Vigilante
by Dinas Emrys
Summary: Weiss is reluctantly overjoyed when Yang returns to Vale after several years away. But with Yang on a mission to find her father's killer, and Vale running rampant with costumed gangsters, ridiculously-armed psychopaths, and thieves with particularly nice posteriors, will Weiss be able to keep Yang alive long enough to tell her how she feels? Freezerburn, Bee'sSchnees, YellowM&Ms
1. Prelude

Writer's Note: All of the characters are of the age of majority in this work, for obvious reasons.

As a reminder, uncut versions of my stories are posted on my account at AO3, where they won't violate FF's content restrictions. Also, I have a tumblr as RedSuitWriter, where I'll post updates for this story, as well as general thoughts on RWBY and other assorted stuff. If you can, please take a moment to shoot out a review - they're very helpful in letting me see what readers liked and what they didn't, and I really appreciate critiques.

Disclaimer: RWBY is the property of Roosterteeth and the creation of Monty Oum.

**Prelude**

_March 23rd, 2014 - Weiss_

Weiss was struck by how small she felt, balanced atop the brawler's knees. The hem of her nightdress pressed against her skin, showing off the thin lines of muscle in her legs, bare arms tense by her sides. Yang was holding her, hands clasped around her waist, the simple act of touching sending the allegro beat of Weiss' heart well into ... something faster. _Stringendo_?

No ... _prestissimo_. How could she forget that? She'd lived and breathed music for years, the Italian phrases drilled into her brain by her father's tutor. That was the beat, that fast pace, that tempo when frantic fingers flew across monochrome keys, desperate to keep up with her pounding heart-

_What is wrong with me_? she thought, shaking her head free of musical notation. Yang's fingers were moving against the thin dress, thumbs running along the tight skin at the curve of her hip. The simple touch was as terrifying as it was intoxicating, panic rushing through her while a steady need slowly built, tugging, pooling in her-

"he ... eiss. ... rth to Weiss?"

She blinked, eyes refocused on the blonde seated beneath her. "... sorry?"

"Weiss, come on. Look at me." Yang cocked her head to the side, angling up so she could look the heiress in the face. "If you don't want to do this-"

"I do," Weiss cut her off in an instant, glaring furiously and thoroughly hating the trembling in her legs.

"Then can ya tell me why you're so freaked out?"

"I am not 'freaked out,' Yang."

"Right, 'cause I'm barely touching you, and already your breathing's shallow and just slightly shy of hyperventilating, there's a lot of rapid eye movement, plus I can _feel_ you shaking ..."

"Fine," Weiss snapped, and immediately regretted it. This wasn't Yang's fault ... mostly. "Sorry. I may be ... just a little nervous."

Even in the dark confines of the room, she could still make out that familiar, crooked, infuriating little smile. The one she'd seen on the blonde's face countless times in the years she'd known her.

"About little old me?"

"No, you ass," Weiss growled, and socked her in the shoulder. It hit harder than she'd meant, but Yang just kept grinning, insufferably pleased at the effect she was having on the other girl.

"Good," the blonde said, arms wrapping around Weiss' waist. For second, Weiss nearly panicked, thinking Yang was about to ... start. Then the blonde lifted the smaller woman off her lap, setting her on the edge of the bed before shifting back to give her room.

"Considering that you're the CEO of a multinational company and I'm living in your house, I'm pretty sure _I'm_ supposed to be the nervous one."

"Cute." Weiss let out one long, shaky breath. Trust Yang to try for a joke _now_, of all times. Even just sitting next to her, having Yang this close was ... distracting. Especially since this needed saying, whether she wanted to or not. Yang had a right to know the truth, no matter how humiliating it was.

"Yang, have you ... thought about us being together?"

"Recently? Yeah. Maybe more than I should have." The grin slipped a little as Yang reached for the heiress' hands, covering thin fingers with her calloused ones. "Look, Weiss, it's going to be a little awkward going from best friends to ... whatever we're gonna be. But I really think it's worth the risk. That you're worth the risk."

Weiss bit the inside of her cheek. Yang would insist on making this entire process more difficult. And on doing it simultaneously in the nicest and most obnoxious way.

"I have liked you for a long time, Yang Xiao Long."

"I know." The blonde finally had the grace to look sheepish. "I am sorry I didn't notice sooner."

"That's not the poin-" Weiss cut herself off mid-retort. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. _Deep breath_, she told herself. _You're not actually angry with her at the moment, and it's your failure to communicate that's frustrating you._

"For a _long_ time, you dolt."

"Yeah, I ... oh," Yang trailed off as realization hit her. The normally unflappable blonde actually looked stunned, finally shocked into speechlessness. Then her grin returned, wider than ever, malevolent and playful and promising things far too sinful to contemplate.

_Oh, she will never_ le_t me live this down._

"So," Yang purred, lips still split in that amazing, irritating grin. "When you were thinking about 'us,' exactly how much clothing was I wearing?"

Weiss flat-out refused to answer, although she had a feel that, given how red she was, it was fairly obvious.

If anything, Yang's grin grew wider, a cheshire half-circle of teeth that gleamed in the dark bedroom. "_That's_ an interesting mental image. Not an entirely unwelcome one, either."

"Shut up, Yang."

"Come on, we've all been there. You had a long night, needed to burn off some stress, you felt lonely ..."

"You're enjoying watching me squirm."

"I plan to, but you're kinda missing the point here." Ignoring Weiss' twitching, Yang knelt down by the side of the bed, staring up at her. Even in the unlit room, Weiss could see the lavender curves of her eyes, their open, honest look completely at odds with the words coming out of her mouth.

"I, the object of your oh-so sordid fantasies, am right in front of you, and I doubt there's anything you can come up with that I won't be ready for. So," she smiled, hands rubbing gently against Weiss' skin. "If you can bring yourself to be honest with me, I _will_ make your wildest dreams come true."

She swallowed, nerves making her already dry throat even tighter. "... how about an old favorite first? Then we work up to the wild ones."

Yang beamed. "Good to see you're finally starting to relax."

As if Weiss was some startled animal, ready to scamper away at any moment, the blonde slowly leaned forward. Cautiously, her eyes locked on Weiss' all the while, her hands shifted to either side of Weiss' knees, pressing into the bed as she moved forward and met the heiress' mouth with her own.

For about a split second, Weiss panicked, wondering what to do with her nose, her hands, if Yang was planning on using tongue, or if she wouldn't want Weiss to try the same. There were a million things to take into account, a thousand worries running through her head, convincing her that she would find some way to screw this up. That Yang would pull away and this would all be over. Then Yang pressed a little deeper and Weiss was gone, lost in oblivion, in the feeling of those lips, soft and warm against her.

The kiss broke for a second, long enough for Weiss to breathe. The blonde paused, eyes searching Weiss' face, hesitating just long enough for the heiress to wrap her arms behind Yang's neck. With one fast yank, they were pinned together, Yang's lip managing to curl up in a smile despite the mouth desperately jammed against her own. Their second kiss went on for a lot longer, hands sliding up into Weiss' hair, long fingers twisting through pale strands until they cupped the back of her head, holding her tenderly in the kiss. Weiss, to her chagrin, was not as gentle, arms twined behind Yang's neck and shoulders, desperate to trap the taller blonde against her.

Eventually, Yang pulled away, untangling herself from Weiss' arms, her face flushed and grinning that impossible grin. Slowly, achingly slowly, she pushed Weiss back against the sheets, pale legs now just barely dangling over the edge of the bed. Fingers ran along the edges of her nightdress, playing with the hem before inching upward, pulling the thin cloth up until they ran across the bare skin of her hips. Those hands were electric against her, Weiss' chest shaking with baited breath, fighting to keep her hips from rolling. Finally, Yang knelt and leaned forward, lips just barely brushing against the inside of Weiss' thigh, kissing their way up until finally, thankfully, she–

* * *

Weiss woke with a gasp.

It took her a second to remember where she was, her mind twisting and tangling as she fought with the sheets. Finally triumphant, she threw the blankets off, pupils blown wide, her braid a tangled mess. Her breath was fast and frantic, coming in short gasps until her eyes made out the posts of her bed, the lines of the dresser set against the wall. _My room_, she reminded herself, noting the disturbed sheets and how cold the other half of the queen-sized bed had become.

She was alone. Horribly, blessedly alone.

Flopping back onto the bed, she grabbed the pillow, pulling over her mouth before letting out one long muffled scream. Rage and frustration ripped up her throat, until she had no more breath to give, and she let it fall away with a half-choked sob.

_Just a little longer, _she thought. _For the love of god, this _one _time, why couldn't it have lasted just a little longer?_

Opening her eyes, Weiss realized one side of her bed was brighter than the other. She rolled onto her side, glaring over at the little flashing square of light. Her phone. The little rectangle sat into its charging dock, shining innocently, completely oblivious in its atrocious betrayal.

Seriously considering the method by which she was going to brutally murder whoever had woken her, Weiss reached for the little white plastic case. Squinting, she tried to make out the name currently blinking in the little notification.

Yang.

Of course it was. The name flashed above the message, apologizing if she'd woken Weiss and saying she had just boarded her flight.

Letting the anger slip away, Weiss checked the time. Four in the morning - her plane must have been delayed. Cursing, she laid the phone flat on the nightstand and rolled over on her side, covers tucked up under her chin and trying desperately to ignore how completely and utterly wound up she was. _Two more hours_, she thought,_just let me get those two. _She had a full day ahead of her - more so, since she'd decided to take the afternoon off and help Yang get settled.

_This time_, she thought. _This time, I _will _tell her._

_If she's not with anyone already,_ some traitorous part of her whispered._She probably would have mentioned it, but__ there's always the chance __..._

_No. She's not. She would have told me. Which means that there's no one. No issue of me not wanting to make her life any more complicated. No worries over seeming like I'm trying to steal her away from someone. All I have to do is tell her._

_Fine. Doesn't mean that she'll actually feel the same way you do._

Wondering what exactly she had to do to kill the hissing doubts swirling in her head, Weiss buried herself under her pillows and waited for sleep.


	2. Homecoming, Part I

**Homecoming, Part I**

_March 23, 2014 - Yang_

To anyone who hasn't been unlucky enough to step on a plane, there's this odd feeling that comes whenever you walk off. Granted, airports are airports, each with their little counters, the rope lines, the staff that randomly exist somewhere between surprisingly helpful and infuriatingly incompetent. But the signs are always different. Different companies, local vendors you've never seen, languages you haven't read. The feeling gets old fast, and with layovers and connecting flights to catch it tends to fade away, but there's still the sensation of being somewhere different, of knowing you walked into an aluminum can in one place and walked out of it in another.

Then there's the feeling when you come home. It's still the same place it was when you left, the same airport they haven't bothered rebuilding in eight years. The stores have changed though; overpriced women's clothing sits where that place with the decent burgers used to be, the bookstore replaced by a bespectacled man hawking the newest gadget. You know it's the same place, but it always feels different. Like if someone tried to remake it from your memories, only they missed the few details that would have made it work.

Then there's the people. You see yourself every day in the mirror for almost a decade, you don't always notice how much you've changed. There's the odd photo here or there, a reminder of when you didn't have that scar, or when you grew your hair long or short. But for you, the changes are gradual, and you can chart the march of time. You don't always get that luxury for someone else.

That all sunk home the minute I saw the girl waiting for me in the airport lobby, her foot tapping with impatience. Everything was different.

Gone were the faded jeans and the rebellious side-tail. A tidy bun held her long hair at the back of her neck, her makeup was elegant and professional, and even the quietly imposing clothes managed to look like they'd been tailor-made for her. Well ... they might have actually been made for her. After eight years, she was almost a completely different person, someone with just a passing resemblance to the teenager I'd known. For a split second, I wondered how I was supposed greet the best friend I hadn't seen in years.

Ah, to hell with it.

Letting my bags drop to the ground – I didn't care about the airport regulations, no one was going to mess with the green duffels – I pushed my way through the crowd, charging up to Weiss and lifting her in the biggest, most embarrassing bear hug I could muster. She stiffened, struggling for a moment before surrendering with that sigh I'd heard every time I managed to call. Slowly, reluctantly, she hugged me back.

Good. At least_ she_ was the same, even under the professional clothes and the expensive perfume. She was still tiny – sorry, 'petite' – and I lifted her off the floor with ease. It was nice to see that some things didn't change.

A man in a dark gray suit stood nearby, eyeballing me briefly before moving to lift my bags from the floor, his eyes slipping back to scan the crowd. Apparently Weiss had warned them to expect a hug from an Amazonian blonde. Smart girl.

"If you're quite done," a voice mumbled into my chest, "You're wrinkling my shirt."

Grinning, I put Weiss back on her feet, keeping my hands on her shoulders as I beamed down at the petite woman. "I missed you too, Princess."

She scowled, the corner of her mouth twitching as she fought to hide a smile. "No one calls me that anymore, Yang."

"Someone should. Can't have you getting to full of yourself."

I clocked her playfully in the shoulder, getting a death glare from the attending bodyguard. Weiss rolled her eyes, waited a moment, and then punched me back, her mouth losing the battle to keep from smiling.

It was really good to be home.

A limo was waiting for us at the curb, the driver hiding from the spring rain beneath an oversized umbrella. He moved as soon as we came out onto the sidewalk, sacrificing his cover to protect 'Miss Schnee' from the deadly drizzle. As smoothly as if she'd done it a hundred times, Weiss slid into the limo, legs folding aside to let me in. I climbed much less gracefully into the black leather interior, the bodyguard taking the shotgun seat with the driver. You know, it always annoyed me how the seat never came with an actual shotgun. Then again, knowing Weiss' security, it might actually have one.

Still, I wasn't going to complain when the dour-faced men raised the privacy glass, giving the two of us some space. Weiss was one of the few people I'd kept in touch with, and one of my rare sources of mail for the past few years. We'd talked a lot, or as much as we could, with email chains and skype calls doing their best. Still, with both of us in the same room for the first time in years, I was having trouble coming up with something.

We were both quiet for a while, searching for something to say that wasn't a repeat of a conversation we'd already had.

Finally, Weiss opened her mouth. "Do you have a place to stay?"

"I was kinda hoping to stay with you."

She twitched. Crap. Clearly she hadn't wanted me to say that. Time to backpedal.

"You know what, I'll just stay at a hotel."

"No, you will not," Weiss scowled at me. "If I don't take you home, you'll end up at the first run-down motel you find, just because you're too lazy to find a decent one. Then you'll come crawling to me with a bedbug infestation."

"Fine, fine." I threw up my hands in surrender. I _had_ kinda hoped to bunk at her place for a little while. It had been a long time since we really spent time together – I was looking forward to just hanging out with her, but if it was a hassle ... "Is it really a problem?"

"It's just ... complicated."

"New girlfriend?"

"No." she snapped, annoyed that I'd mention her apparently non-existent sex life. "My roommate will be less than thrilled."

My stomach sank. Weiss was hardly what you would call 'sociable.' I could count on one hand the number of people she would willingly live with.

"Is it-"

"Yeah."

"How is she?"

"Technically, she's working."

"Technically?"

"I made sure she could take the day off ..."

"If she wanted to." I finished, my stomach sinking. Not that I was surprised. We had barely spoken in years beyond the obligatory birthday card or holiday call. After the funeral, she shut me out completely.

"Yang, I'm not sure she ever really forgave you for leaving. When you missed the service ..." Weiss sighed, staring across the back seat of the limo. "I could have gotten you leave. You just had to tell me."

"My unit was kinda busy," I squirmed against the leather seats, trying to find a position where the seatbelt didn't threaten to strangle me, "Don't think I didn't notice how eager my CO was to get rid of me when my contract was up."

Weiss smirked, pulling a water bottle from the holder nearby and snapping the plastic top. "A few people owed me some favors. You'd be surprised how easy it can be to make sure someone isn't in a 'shortage' position."

"Easy for you, maybe."

She shrugged, taking a long sip from the little plastic tube. "We have a number of military contracts."

I snorted. It was a bit of an understatement. The Schnee Corporation was one of the largest economic behemoths in the world, controlling a massive number of subsidiaries, its tendrils reaching into just about any business you could think off. The company's Applied Sciences division was renowned (even to someone as disinterested as me) for a long series of military innovations. They made superior body armor, vehicles, generators, high-powered weaponry, you name it. The rumor was, if it had a Schnee logo on it, you could trust it with your life.

I was just a little more familiar with it than most. About two years in, I got caught in an explosion, the bomb detonating beneath our jeep on some nondescript Vacuan road. I'd been lucky – all minor injuries apart from a slightly perforated lung. That last one came from my vest not catching a piece of the shrapnel, breaking through the ceramic plating. Definitely not the worst that could have happened, but it still hurt like a mother. No equipment lasts forever, and sometimes a vest slipped through that was a month or two past its expiration date.

Which was how I ended up in a hospital bed when my replacement equipment arrived. Equipment that had to cost more than I made in a year, all of it with a very discreet Schnee logo printed on the inside. Apparently, my unit had been 'volunteered' to test their latest prototypes. My CO had only known the orders came from higher up the chain.

The only answer I ever got was a surprisingly terse 'Get Well' card from Weiss. She wanted to know how I was doing, if I was getting better, and made it very clear that if I got myself blown up again, she'd see to it I was transferred somewhere _safe_. Judging by the tone of her letter, it'd be somewhere very, very cold.

"You know I hated getting special favors from you."

"Who said it was for you?" Weiss snapped, one eyebrow raised in utter skepticism. The feigned arrogance melted for a minute, the corner of her mouth twitching in a smile. "It's been eight years. I missed you, dolt."

Before she could argue, I jumped across the car, flopping onto the leather seats and wrapping my arms around her. Weiss struggled, pushing against my head in a vain attempt to escape. I let her go after a few minutes, watching as she jerked her clothes back into place, one hand checking her bun.

"I missed you both. More than I can say."

Weiss stopped fussing with her hair to look at me, one hand patting me uneasily on the shoulder. "I'm sure she'll be happy to see you."

She wasn't a very good liar. It was one of the things I liked about her.

* * *

I asked Weiss to swing by the Fifth Precinct on our way back to her place. She nodded slowly before telling her driver, rapping her knuckles on the privacy glass. The driver nodded, hit the turn signal, and raised the glass back up, leaving just the two of us in our little bubble. Weiss fiddled with her water bottle, eyes glazed over as she stared through the floor. She knew why I needed to go, why I needed to hear it in person. Not that she'd admit it, but I could tell she was worried. At least, I think she was worried. She was doing that little furrow thing with her brow. So, either worried or angry.

Honestly, I was just glad she cared.

The driver pulled up alongside the curb, giving the two of us a chance to slide out of the town car before he drove off to find a parking space. A few words to the weedy-looking desk clerk, and he ushered us into a nearby lounge with paint peeling off the walls.

Weiss tried to say something, probably about to insist that the detective in charge of my father's case be brought to us immediately. I cut her off, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze. I wasn't about to drop the full might of Schnee down upon them, at least not yet. Not while they still seemed like they'd actually help. Bringing in a name like hers might work in the short run, but forcing a bunch of annoyed cops to play politics wasn't the way to get a successful investigation. She looked back at me and sighed, swallowing her words as we sank into the threadbare couch.

She quieted, but it was good to know Weiss wanted to help, even if all she could do was make the system run a little faster. Thankfully, we weren't kept waiting long; for someone who prizes patience as much as Weiss, she's really bad about waiting. Of course, with the Schnee name, she normally doesn't have to.

After a few minutes, a woman with long red hair walked into the room, the unbuttoned blazer just showing the badge clipped to her belt and the Sig holstered at her hip. The detective was tall, almost my height, with the tight, coiled build of a lifelong runner. I'd put my money on a past as a college athlete, someone with a compulsive drive to stay in the same shape she was years ago. The cop was a looker too – Ireland might lie in her eyes and hair, but the olive skin spoke of Mediterranean ancestors, sunny countries far from rolling pastures and peat bogs.

I caught a flash of green when she turned, her eyes going wide, resting squarely on the girl at my side. It was there for barely a second, and then she was back in control, moving across the room with the confidence of a complete professional and sparing the suddenly silent Weiss no more attention than necessary. I had to admit, she was good. If I hadn't been paying attention, I would have missed it.

They knew each other.

"Miss Xiao Long, I'm Detective Nikos, Major Crimes."

Not bothering to correct the title, I nodded and took the offered hand. She pumped it once before letting go, hesitating half a second before doing the same to Weiss. The heiress stared blankly at the hand before she caught herself, extending her own out of courtesy. Introductions out of the way, she perched on the armchair across from us, scooting forward to keep from falling back into the sagging cushions.

"I was told you're the one investigating my father's murder." Might as well get to the point. I'm sure the clerk had told her why I was here.

"It was recently re-assigned to my desk. I'm so sorry for your loss."

I shrugged off the scripted phrase, although I had to admit, she almost sounded like she meant it. This had to be the worst part of her job: dealing with the grieving, angry, or guilty members of the victims' families. I'd been lucky – I'd only written a few of those letters, but it still tore at your soul, having to tell someone their loved one was dead.

"Re-assigned?"

"The detective handling your case took an early retirement."

Weiss snorted at that, derision clear in her voice. "I didn't know 'retirement' included being indicted on corruption charges." She finally looked up from her hands, pale blue eyes shooting her challenge at the redhead. Nikos twitched, her focus finally switching from me to the woman at my side. Weiss met her eyes, and I resisted the urge to slink away as they stared each other down. They didn't look angry, or if they were, it was the kind of anger that had grown cold over time. Just awkwardness, maybe? Whatever they wanted to say, neither was willing or able to say it. I cleared my throat, and they blinked. Apparently they had forgotten I was here.

Nikos cleared her throat, taking the time to get herself together. "As a result, I caught some of his old cases." A thin manila folder materialized on the coffee table between us, resting between someone's half-finished cup of coffee and the unused coaster on the other end. I flicked it open, finding a collection of crime scene photos and evidence reports, listing the forensic evidence discovered at the scene, the caliber of the bullets. It was far thinner than I would have liked. "Your father's body was found floating in the bay with two gunshot wounds to the chest. The medical examiner put the time of death at around twelve hours beforehand."

"I got this much in the report you people sent me. After you were convinced I hadn't snuck back into the country and murdered him myself, of course." It was hard to not be bitter, but I was trying to be the bigger person. Not like it was her fault, either; she hadn't been the one hiding behind 'procedure' while accusing me of patricide. That badge definitely didn't do her any favors though.

"It's been two months. I'm asking if there's anything new, or if the VCPD is incapable of finishing the investigation."

Her jaw twitched a bit, but she didn't rise to the bait, simply continuing in that low, calm voice. "I understand your frustration. Unfortunately, the seawater in the bay removed much of the physical evidence, if there was anything useful to begin with. The only real lead was ballistics, and those apparently led to a member of one of the local gangs."

I noticed she didn't mention which gang. She might be going out of her way to tell me how the case had progressed, but apparently there was a line she wouldn't cross. "And he isn't arrested ... why?"

"Completely solid alibi. He also claims the gun was stolen from him a week before the murder."

"So Vale's boys in blue aren't competent enough to catch a couple gang-bangers playing hot potato with a murder weapon?"

"Competence isn't the problem." Weiss chose that moment to speak up, her hand pulling at my shoulder, tugging me back into the couch. I hadn't realized I'd moved. "The city's gotten nastier since you left. It's one thing to risk your life for someone else's safety. It's another to make an arrest knowing your family is on the line if someone wants to make reprisals."

"My predecessor _might_ have been of that mindset, Weiss. I'm not. If we get any leads, I _will_ look into them." There was a bit of an edge to her voice, the sound of an old argument I wasn't a part of. "Without the gun or any idea where the bod ... where your father died or was put in the water, there's very little to go on."

I stood to leave. There wasn't anything else to say, apart from venting my anger at the department. While it might make me feel better in the short run, I had a better target in mind. I thanked her, the words probably sounded more lackluster than I meant them to. Detective Nikos took it in stride, offering us both another handshake before gently guiding us back to the entrance.

Now I just had to decide whether or not I believed her. Given what I'd read of the current VCPD, and Weiss' rather caustic color commentary, it was looking like half the force was bought, lazy, or incompetent. Granted, Nikos seemed nice enough, if a little dull. The jury was still out on whether that bland niceness was an act or just her personality. What's the line ... 'one can smile and smile and be a villain?' (See Weiss, I _was _paying attention to that play you dragged me to.)

Weiss texted her driver as soon as we stepped outside the precinct, hiding from the spring drizzle in the arched entryway. Soon we were well into an unhappy silence of our own, both waiting for the other to say something, both knowing and avoiding what the other wanted to ask.

I broke first.

"So ... you two know each other." Deadpan. No reason not to be, especially after all that. Weiss knew me well enough to see that I knew. At this point it was just a waiting game to see when she'd crack.

"We were in the same year at university. We ran into each other." Wow. That had to be a strong contender for understatement of the year. Someone you 'ran into' at school got a polite nod or an insincere question about their quality of life. Not an awkward silence you could cut with a broadsword.

"If you don't want to talk about it, just say so. I won't push." Weiss has never been a good liar. There was clearly more between the two of them, but unless she felt like sharing ...

"Sorry." Apparently, she didn't. Not that it was surprising. She's not really a share-er.

Might as well cut to the chase – I was really starting to get tired of the whole silence thing. "Do you believe her? About my dad."

Weiss took a second to answer, her teeth biting down into her lip as she mulled it over. "Pyrrha was always driven. She's not the type to let things go, least of all a case. If she says the case is cold and not going anywhere, then someone probably made her move on. I would take her word about new evidence – if they find anything, she'll pounce on it. Especially after we implied that the police are incapable of doing their job. That'll grate on her for days."

I nodded absently, noting the switch between _was_ and _is_. Still, if Weiss didn't want to talk, I wasn't going to push it. We all had our secrets, the odd skeleton cluttering our closet.

Weiss looked over at me, her brow furrowing as she opened her mouth. I guess that meant it was my turn. Crap. I hate it when it's my turn.

"Are you okay?" she asked, silently offering to listen if I needed to vent. It was a nice gesture, but that wasn't what I needed right now.

"I will be." It wasn't a complete lie. I might not be in mourning, but these weren't exactly happy memories we were shifting through. "Thanks, Weiss. I ... I needed that."

She just nodded, and we both lapsed back into that stupid silence until the car pulled up. It wasn't until we were both inside the warm and dry interior that Weiss spoke again, her hand waiting to knock on the privacy glass.

"Home, then? Or do you ..." she trailed off, waiting to know where I wanted to go.

She called it home. Not 'my place,' not 'the apartment.' Home. I appreciated the implication: that I'd always have a home here to come back to, at least with her.

"Home sounds good."

* * *

It was late by the time we got to her apartment. Weiss sent her attendants away for the night, saying something about the driver getting home to his wife. I smirked. I knew Weiss would make a good boss.

Once inside the building, we found ourselves waiting for the elevator in a marble-floored entryway. Trust her to have a penthouse in a building with twenty flights of stairs, which meant we had to listen to god-awful Muzak until the car finally dinged at her floor. We finally stepped out, Weiss keying the door open while I stumbled in with the bags.

Somebody scrambled to their feet in the next room, sofa springs complaining as a body bounced off their support, darting for the hallway.

"Weiss, you won't believe what happened when we ran the Crescent through her paces today. Okay, we might have underestimated the force on impact, but it can't be _that_ expensive to repair the range, and ..." She turned the corner and stopped, stock-still, just staring at me.

"Hi ... Ruby." I waved, freeing up my hands as I dumped the bags to the side.

My sister had grown up. I'd gotten a couple pictures (from Weiss, of course) but it wasn't the same as seeing her in person. Her hair had changed – it was the first thing I noticed. For years Ruby insisted that Mom cut it one particular way, and she'd been happy to oblige. It had been their little ritual, Ruby running up every time it grew too long, bouncing until Mom sat her down, washed her hair, and clipped it back into line. After her death, I'd tried once. I got close, but it just wasn't the same. Now, Ruby let it grow long, a ponytail draped over her shoulder. She still kept that one lock in front, but the bangs that always fell into her eyes were gone, pinned up and out of the way.

It hit me. She'd grown up, and I hadn't gotten to see it.

She didn't say anything, just walked past me, shoving stockinged feet into the pair of boots that sat by the door. "Have to get back to work. I still owe you that project update you wanted."

Weiss reached out, grabbing my sister's sleeve before she could slip out the door. "It can wait a day, Ruby."

Sis flashed a small smile that even I could tell was forced. "I catch enough flak for being the boss' roommate. Can't really have you giving me special treatment too."

Weiss nodded slowly, looking back and forth between the two of us. "I'll come in to work early tomorrow. It'll give us a chance to talk."

"Yeah. Sure." The sister I hadn't seen in years brushed her off, slipping out the door without another word.

Happy to see me, my ass.

Abandoning my bags, I sank into the couch Ruby had just vacated, letting the soft cushions comfort me in my depression. I wasn't expecting a hug, but acknowledging my existence would have been nice. Weiss took one look at me before kicking off her heels and vanishing into the kitchen, returning with a takeout menu and silverware one hand, a quart of ice cream tucked under her arm.

It was pink. "I thought you hated strawberry, Princess."

"Which is why it's for you," she smirked, flashing the container of blueberry fro-yo under the other arm. "And if you make that joke, I'm throwing it out." Meticulous as always, Weiss arranged the bowls and spoons on the coffee table, scowling when she turned back to find me scooping strawberry chunks right out of the tub.

"What? You're not gonna eat it," I mumbled, grinning once I speak around the frozen chunks of fruit. Shaking her head, she scooped out her own frozen emotional therapy. I waited until she was done ordering takeout before setting down my slowly melting treat.

"Is she doing okay, with the job and everything?"

"Her team adores her. There might have been some grumbling at first, mostly from the rumors that I added an eighteen year old kid to my research staff." Weiss spooned another mouthful of blue-tinted yogurt into her mouth, swallowing properly before she continued. "It took _maybe_ a day for everyone to warm up to her. She's doing well, Yang."

"I'm glad."

"Really? Because I know you, and that's not your happy face."

I groaned, rubbing traitorous muscles while I decided how much I could tell her. I settled on the truth, or a part of it. It always made for the best lies.

"I'm wondering what would have been different if I hadn't left."

"You know, when you told me you wanted to enlist, I thought about asking you to stay."

"Why didn't you?"

"The same reasons Ruby will eventually forgive you. You would have been supremely unhappy, and I'd have suffered from crippling guilt." Weiss glanced over at me before swallowing another bite of fro-yo. "She just didn't see it coming. You should have told her before you signed up, but she'll get over it, Yang. Just give it some time."

I nodded, looking down into my desert. "Hey Weiss?"

"Yeah, Ya – what the hell?" she shrieked as I smeared ice cream all over the tip of her nose.

"What was that for?"

"Weiss á la mode." I couldn't help but laugh at the sight of Weiss scowling at me over her now-pink nose. "What? You said I couldn't make the Weiss Cream pun."

Granted, she tried to brain me with the ice cream scoop, but I could tell she was happy behind that scowl. We started the night eating Chinese food out of paper boxes, piling them in the empty quarts before abandoning them to the recycle. It was like old times, the two of us acting like teenagers at a sleepover. She even convinced me to let her braid my hair. Hell, Weiss genuinely_ smiled_ when she said goodnight, leaving me to spread the borrowed blankets over her sofa.

She was never going to forgive me for what I was about to do.


	3. Homecoming, Part II

**Homecoming, Part II**

_March 24, 2014 - Yang_

I waited until the light clicked off in Weiss' room, the bed creaking as she finally went to sleep. I levered myself slowly off the couch, listening for the telltale complaints of sofa springs. After letting me crash here, it'd be kinda rude to wake her up. Plus, I didn't really want her knowing what I was doing. No offense to Weiss, but this was something I had to do myself, especially since she'd spend the time trying to convince me to just let this go.

That wasn't gonna happen.

I opened the smaller of my two duffels as quietly as I could, pulling out the scarred, dented laptop wrapped in a pair of my old jeans. Plugging it in, I went to work, finding the password for her wi-fi on a post-it note under the modem in her den. The visit to the precinct might not have been as fruitful as I'd hoped, but at least I had a place to start. The gang member whose gun was used in the murder. Even if he hadn't pulled the trigger himself, I found it hard to believe that he had nothing to do with it. Okay, maybe it was just because it was the only real lead I had, but at least I'd be doing something.

Detective Nikos hadn't given me his name. I could understand why. More than a few grieving family members would go after a suspect if given half a chance.

Not that her reluctance would stop me. The police might not be able to force him to talk, but I could. If he'd been arrested, there would be a record, so if the cops wouldn't tell me, I'd just have to go to a different bastion of public disservice: the press.

I spent most of the night plugging away on the computer, trolling through newspaper archives from a year and a half ago, searching for any mention of my father's murder. I found more than a few – he hadn't been famous, but apparently the shooting of a respected engineer warranted some coverage. Most of it was what you'd expect: the usual drivel about him being a titan of the industry, a list of the more successful projects he'd helmed, a few quotes from co-workers and friends. The almighty Rolf Schnee had even bothered to write something: a 'heartfelt' piece calling him 'an example for all young innovators to aspire to.' Least he could do for one of the men who helped him make his company what it was today.

There was nothing useful in the national papers, so I went local, shifting through Vale politics and social justice articles to find the crime reports. I'd worked my way down into the third-tier news rags before I found it, buried between an editorial about the increasing crime rate and an advertisement for dog food.

Russell Thrush, arrested 'in connection with the Rose murder.' Member of the Cardinals street gang. That was more than enough to go on.

Conveniently for me, state law requires arrest records be accessible to the public. Granted, 'suspicion of murdering my dad' probably wasn't a functioning search term on their website, but the name definitely was. Once I'd made sure the proxy wouldn't lead them straight back to Weiss' flat, I started looking. There was the chance someone might notice the recent search if something ... _happened_ to Mister Thrush, and I didn't want any of this falling back on my host. I found him within minutes, blonde mohawk sagging against the shaved side of his head as he stared into the mugshot camera. I scrolled through the page, jotting down the listed aliases, smiling when it mentioned resisting arrest. I hoped they'd been rough with him, although apparently not enough to get the scumbag to talk. If only they'd been a little harder for the gang to intimidate, a little better at their jobs, all this might not have been necessary. I wouldn't have gotten involved. I had to hand it to them though, the system worked, at least as far as their web designer was concerned.

The record even listed his last known address.

I made sure to enjoy the city after I slipped out of Weiss' flat, the doorman looking at me like some sort of vagrant. To be fair, I did kinda look the part. Stepping out onto the street, I stopped to marvel at the city I still called my home. I'd forgotten how it _really _looked after years in a desert. Everything was orange, and blue, and red. The city was covered in fluorescent lights, neon signs, and flashing LEDs, currents blasted through any filament or gas someone could manage to bottle. My city glows, shadows broken by lit windows and business signs, infinitely more vivid than it could ever be during the day. Sunlight washes out the color, turning the skyscrapers into calm, bland towers, looming over dull red brick and bland concrete. The night is when it comes alive, when it burns, desperate to keep back the darkness.

The people aren't any different. Walk down any street at night and you can find someone fresh out of a club, somewhere between delightfully tipsy and drunk off his ass, fighting sleep and exhaustion to keep the party going. If not him, the changing shifts, either just getting off or about to head in, grabbing a bite to eat at all-night diners and the odd food stand that caters to the late-night clientele. It's a good fight, the battle to keep the night alive, to keep the world from sleeping.

I'd missed the lights.

The taxi driver had to snap his fingers to tear me away from the window, my eyes glazed over as neon lines blurred past. Shaking myself out of the daydream, I paid the man, asked him to wait and leave the meter running, then stepped out onto the curb.

The crumpled post-it in my pocket listed a third floor address in a tenement building on the outskirts of the University District, filled with half-broke students working their way through school, rubbing shoulders with trust-fund brats and frat boys. I didn't look too out of place, black beanie and an oversized hoodie hiding most of my blond hair, the jeans just loose enough to move comfortably in. Hell, I could probably still pass for a student. Post-grad at least. I remembered the area from my brief stint at college, and I'd bet the bars were just as easy to sneak into now as they had been back then.

I walked in the opposite direction from the school, the rowdy crowds and vomiting frat boys far behind me. The further you got from Beacon, the lower the property values sank, until you hit the edge. The part of the area no one admitted to, conveniently forgetting it was even there. It was as far from the neat houses, Greek dens, and polished apartment towers as you could get, well past the bars, the coffee shops, the karaoke places, and the Mormon church that had always seemed to have one missionary up on the campus to proselytize. The building at the address was so old that I half-expected to see even the brick starting to rot. At least it was the kind of building I could see Thrush living in, run-down and decrepit.

Reminding myself that it could have always been the sixth floor, I took the stairs at a run, using the exercise as a warm-up in case Thrush decided he wanted to do this the fun way. If he gave me what I needed to know, I'd let him walk out of here mostly intact, but somehow, I suspected he was gonna make me work for it.

Apartment 315 was at the other end of the hall. Ignoring the tarnished metal handle, I rapped my knuckles on the door, ducking my head just enough that anyone inside could still see I was female, but still hid the top of my face from view. In case this went south, I'd rather he not have a great idea what I looked like. Plus, people are always more likely to open the door to a woman than they are to a man. Definitely a mistake, but not one I'd complain about.

A woman well into middle age opened the door as far as the chain lock would allow, blinking sleep from her eyes. Crap. Trust a guy like this to give his mother's house as his address. At least, I hoped it was his mother. Otherwise he had a real big cougar fixation.

I fought the urge to unleash a few choice expletives, knowing they wouldn't make this problem any easier. Ideally, Thrush would have opened the door, I could have kicked it in, gotten some of the anger out of my system, and we could have had a nice long chat. If it had just been some random guy, I probably could have still strong-armed him into telling me where Thrush was, if he'd even known. Hell, no answer at all would have been better. I could have just broken in, gone looking for anything to lead me to this guy. But I wasn't about to strong-arm a woman with worry lines wrinkling her brow, much less beat answers out of her.

"Who are you?" She sounded suspicious. I couldn't blame her. I mean, I had shown up on her doorstep at midnight.

"I'm ... Carol. Is Russ here?" I took a shot in the dark at a nickname. Last thing I needed was for her to think I was here for ... well, exactly what I was really here for, actually. Oddly enough, most people don't think too highly of strangers coming 'round to interrogate their relatives, even when those relatives are complete scumbags.

"My son doesn't live here anymore."

"Oh. I'm sorry, I just ..." Crap. Why didn't I think of a lie _before_ I came to the apartment? ... oh right, I was planning to kick the door in and use the shattered remains to beat a confession out of him. A pity. It had been a good plan, too – apart from the whole, him not-being-here thing.

Okay Yang, you've got this. Middle aged woman, delinquent son, general sense of disappointment, crushed dreams ... pretty decent cocktail of sadness. Should do just fine.

"Look, sorry to bother you, I can come back a different time – I've got like, seven months still, so ..." I turned to leave. I didn't want to just give her everything; she'd buy into the lie more if I made her work for it. _If_ she felt like working for it. Otherwise, I'd have a 'change of heart,' go back, and demand she tell me where the no-good father of my fake baby was.

I'd only made it two steps before I heard the chain lock come off the door.

"Did my son ... are you pregnant?"

Subtle, she was not. I knew I shuddered, the mere thought of ... ugh. Gag. Well, at least it worked. Take shallow breaths, get the heart beating a little faster. Best to look nervous, pitch the voice up a little bit. Make the shudder look like it was from emotion, not the effort to keep from hurling. She'd bought it this far, might as well go all the way.

I turned back, pitching my voice up as I tightened my throat. "I just need to talk to Russ and I can't find him and I thought that maybe he'd come back here ..." I full-on babbled, hoping she wouldn't notice my poor acting if I just rushed through it.

Either I was a better actor than I thought, or she was less intelligent that I'd given her credit for. Probably the latter – I'd been cast as inanimate objects for every school play I'd ever done. She squeezed my shoulder awkwardly, genuinely trying to reassure a complete stranger.

"I'm sorry, hun. I haven't seen that boy in ... a long time." Crap. I could hear the pain in her voice. "Would you like to come in? I could make us some tea."

Just great. Add guilt to the disappointment. Not only was Thrush not here, I was starting to feel like I'd kicked this poor woman's dog.

Now, I could go in there, probably make up an excuse to use her bathroom, and take the chance to check the rest of the house. Maybe Thrush really was in there, and this woman was just covering for her son. Fine, it _was_ possible, but not very likely. I hadn't heard anything that sounded like another person in the apartment, and the sadness on her face seemed real enough. Even worse was the flicker of hope, the idea that maybe, just maybe, a child in her son's life would do what all her parenting couldn't, or at least give her a new life to take care of. A second chance.

Honestly, I didn't want to get in any deeper. As long as the building didn't fall apart in the next few days, I could always come back, kick down the door and hunt for this poor woman's son then.

"Thanks, but I ... I should probably go." At least I didn't have to fake the awkwardness on that one. I slipped back down the stairwell, taking time to slump dejectedly until I was out of sight. I waited in the stairwell until I heard the door close behind me, then headed back to the ground floor.

A dead end. Great. I'd gotten my hopes up with the newspaper article. Still, it wasn't quite square one. I had the name, and now that I knew which street gang he was in, I had a place to start. Plus, it would have been way too easy just to find him chilling at his mom's.

Apparently, luck hadn't _completely_ abandoned me. The taxi was still sitting sat at the end of the curb. I gave the cabbie an address three blocks from Weiss' place (just in case) and slumped in the back.

How the hell had _that_ woman's son ended up a murdering gang member? ... I think I'm gonna blame the schools.

* * *

A blast of light woke me far earlier than I'd have liked. I looked for a second at the watch I'd left on the coffee table, moaned, and rolled to the side with my eyes clenched shut, desperate to bury my face in the pillow and return to the blissful void of sleep. For the love of god, Weiss, who gets up at five?

"Come on, Yang, wake up."

"Five more minutes, mom."

"All evidence to the contrary," my host snapped, yanking at the blanket I was hugging over my head. "I'm not your mother."

"Then let me sleep."

"If I do, you'll never get over your jet lag." Growling, I forced myself up, finding Weiss in boardroom battle gear, pencil skirt stretching just a bit while she slipped on her heels.

"What?"

"Nothing, just ... I forget you're a responsible adult sometimes."

"We've been adults for a while, Yang." She snorted and rose, brushing a spec of lint off her suit. I smiled. _That_ hadn't changed at least. It was good to see Weiss was as impeccable as ever – her clothes pressed to perfection, without a single hair out of place or a blemish on her perfect face. No, pimples had never dared the wrath of the great Weiss Schnee. A shame, really. The rage probably would have ended with her wiping out acne once and for all.

She looked at me oddly, sliding the heel of her foot into the back of the shoe. "That's what happens when you leave."

I nodded and ran a hand through my sleep-mussed hair.

"I am sorry, Yang. I only need to head into the office for a few hours, and I'll find a way to take the afternoon off." She smiled and headed off towards the front door.

"Could you tell Ruby 'hi' for me?" I called after her, almost regretting the words as I said them.

She paused, the clicking of her heels stopping halfway down the hall. "Of course, Yang." The door clicked as it opened. "I left the key on the counter, so lock up when you leave. Just don't blow up my place while I'm gone, okay?"

I listened to her leave before going back to bed. I needed more sleep after last night, although I did set an alarm to wake me up at a more decent hour. Once my head stopped complaining from sleep deprivation, I dressed and got ready to leave, grabbing a pop-tart from the solitary box in her kitchen. I smiled at presence of the frosted strawberry breakfast – I doubted even starvation would be enough to make Weiss eat one.

Munching the microwave 'pastry,' I caught a cab off the street and headed off to the one place that might help me find Mr. Thrush. Unfortunately, the punk didn't seem to be the kind of guy who tweeted his location constantly. It would have nice, really. But no, he lacked the common courtesy to make tracking him down any easier. That left me needing to find an otherwise insignificant gang member, with very few options left. Other than finding random examples of the lowlife's gang and putting the fear of god in them. Well, I could always use it as a fallback.

That just left one place, buried in the shell of an Art Deco corpse, stylized LED letters spelling out 'JUST' in red and white on the sign. It was popular enough among the weekend warrior crowd, but even during my brief attempt at college, the draw had been less about the place's music or drinks than the illicit vibe. Not drugs, although I'd bet the place had seen its fair share at one time or another. No, the Triads gave the place its forbidden draw, with rumors of a connection to one Chinese mafia or another thrilling the yuppies that came to party. I didn't bother with the clientele's fancies about romantic, chain-smoking Hong Kong gangsters or the muscled leading men of old _yanggang _flicks – the Xiong Group owned the bar, plain and simple. It was one of their 'legitimate' possessions, and while cops had dragged few members from club in the past, the place was still there, all but unassailable to Vale's faltering police force.

The guard at the door moved to stop me, then apparently thought better of it. It's not like the club was actually open; anyone coming now would be on 'business.' The automatic doors slid open, and I stalked into the building, hands clenching to shake off the nervous tension. It wasn't every day I walked into a mafia den.

The place was practically abandoned. Made sense, given that I was walking into a nightclub at ten in the morning. The floor dropped away, leaving a set of stairs that descended down into the club. I avoided the tiled dance floor, walking past decorative light fixtures as I made my way over to the bar. The manager stood behind the polished surface, wiping a clean glass with an equally clean cloth.

For an information broker, the dude was huge. It was starting to look like the Junior moniker was supposed to be ironic, one of those dumb jokes bandied about before introducing someone the name simply didn't fit. A trimmed beard sat beneath horrible red shades, his ensemble sticking to the club's newspaper color scheme. Well, I hoped the theme was newsprint. 'Axe-crazy Penguin' didn't sound like a normal set of paint swatches.

"Frozen Strawberry Sunrise. With Salt."

He cocked an eyebrow before pulling out the ingredients. I mean, what the hell, right? I had a growing feeling this wasn't gonna go well, and it had to be five o'clock somewhere. Cape Verde probably counted. Somewhere in the Pacific, at least.

The man called Junior placed the pink-red drink on a napkin, crimson liquid floating in the blended ice. I took a sip, getting as much salt off the rim as I could.

"I'm new in town, and I need to find someone." Okay, that _might_ have been a little blunt, but I didn't feel like wasting time. I was still in a bad mood after having to deal with this punk's poor old mother.

"You came in a little early for a one-night stand," Junior growled, returning to his pretense of cleaning the glassware.

"Cute." I took another sip, hoping the delay would draw him in. He had to know I was here for something more serious than a random hook-up. "Where can I find the Cardinals?"

The glass came down, gently clinking as he set it on the bar. "Tell you what, Blondie," he looked up, fingers twitching to call some of his boys over, "You get lost and I'll forget you ever came in here."

Now, I was not in what anyone would call a 'good' mood. There was two ways this could go down. Either I waited for his boys to come over, who I'd have to beat up, or I got the drop on him, and then his beat up his boys.

Might as well be proactive.

"Yeah, I really wasn't looking to deal." I grabbed him by the horrible red tie, yanking his face down to slam against the bar top. Junior bounced, blood spurting from his nose as he reeled back, swearing. Whiner. It was a broken nose at most.

That just left the squad of the tacky-suited, fedora-wearing gangsters rushing at me from behind. I could hear their footsteps as they pounded over. Sliding off the bar stool, I waited, needing them to get into my range. Too far away, and my timing would be off, leaving me open. Too close, and they'd be in a prime position to get their shots in first.

I needed everything _just right_.

Grabbing the edge of the stool, I swung, smacking the frontrunner's head like a baseball. He didn't get the distance those did, but at least he went down, falling off to the side as the rest of the gangsters got to me. They were bare-knuckled for the most part, although I noticed one of them had already pulled out a switchblade.

Tsk, tsk. Those were definitely illegal.

I blocked the first couple punches with the legs of the stool, their hands flinching back from the pain of punching the steel bars. One went for a kick to my side, probably aiming for my kidney. Jerk. I caught his calf in the stool legs, twisting to force his leg higher into the air. I aimed my foot for his remaining leg, and he went down, horribly off balance. Another quick kick, this time to his temple, and he crumpled.

The one with the knife decided to slash at me, so I threw the stool into his face, making him reel back as he reflexively tried to catch the thing. He managed ... at least under my fist sailed between the metal legs. He took the shot to his face, staggering back and giving me time to deal with the rest of the muscle.

It was quick work after that, and left me standing on the dance floor, surrounded by the bruised bodies of Triad thugs. I had to crack a smile. I'd _definitely_ needed this, needed the release of getting to just punch something. Normally I'd get my energy out on one of my old sparring partners, but with them back in Vacuo, this made for a pretty good substitute.

The unmistakable click of heels on the polished floor hit my ears, and I looked up to find two pairs of long legs coming towards me.

A feathered head cocked to the side. "Melanie, who is this woman?"

The two almost identical girls stalking toward me looked more like fashion models than bodyguards. The fur stoles and hairpieces I could understand – the feathers on the one in red were actually pretty awesome – but minidresses and heels? Not that I didn't have some myself, but I wouldn't show up to a _fight_ in them. What kind of bodyguard comes to work in frills? Or in a strapless minidress that looked like it'd fall off if she punched too hard? Amateurs.

The twin in white spoke up, her voice a dry whine with traces of valley girl. "I don't know, Militia, but anyone who thinks they can just waltz in here needs be taught a lesson."

Seriously? In heels?

The white one went first, lashing out in a kick to my chest. I took the blow on my arms, the force carrying me back. It gave me a second before the two were on me, forcing me to divide my attention between them. Every time I thought I had the edge on one, the other would appear, using the opening to get in another shot, another kick.

Okay, _maybe_ I'd underestimated their competence ... or the strength of the double-sided tape that _had_ to be holding up their tops. It was kinda weird actually, like someone had taken a real fighter and split her into two mostly-competent halves. I might lean a little on the side of my hands, but I knew well enough to mix up hand and foot work when the situation called for it. White almost exclusively used her legs, and Red had slipped out a set of punching daggers that I kept having to dodge. As soon as I'd start to get a handle on the fight, they'd throw in another surprise – a less formidable kick from Red or a jab from White – forcing me to keep adjusting to _their_ rhythm, putting _me_ on the defensive.

I'd give it to them, they fought well together, at least until I knocked Red's feet out from under her. A few body shots and a blow to her jaw took her down quickly enough.

That just left me and White. Sorry ... _Melanie_. Least I think that's what her sister called her.

It was the same flurry of kicks – the same speed and precision she'd shown earlier – but without the assistance of her twin, she was a lot easier to read. She might have reach on me – even the short legs of her petite frame extended farther than my arm – but I was faster, better trained. Stronger.

I pulled back, forcing her to come to me, playing the distance while waiting for the opening I needed.

And then it came.

I ducked the next roundhouse kick, using the momentum to drive my elbow into her side. She reeled, the force of the blow making her stagger, throwing off her timing. Grabbing her outstretched arm, I twirled around her, pulling her off-balance in a grotesque dance, and gave her a roundhouse kick of my own.

She stayed down.

I stood there, panting, my whole body singing with adrenaline. Oh man, had that felt _good_. The hits I'd taken while the two had been in sync were just starting to ache. I was gonna be a mass of bruises by tomorrow. For being so little, those girls really packed a punch.

I walked back over to the bar, pulling back just in time as the bleeding manager whipped a Louisville slugger at my head. I ducked the bat, coming up to slam my forearm into the side of Junior's nose. He howled, and I took the chance to disarm him, hyperextending his wrist until the bat fell from his limp fingers, only to be tossed across the dance floor. Hauling him up by the tie, I forced him against the wall, the bottles shaking on their counters.

"Look, Junior, I can be reasonable. You tell me what I want to know, and I leave."

He growled something mostly unintelligible – some crack about my sex life that I don't feel like repeating.

"The hard way then." I grinned, taking the chance to catch my breath, before I slammed my hand into his crotch. Junior's eyes bugged as I squeezed, the older man letting out a sound like a teapot.

"Come on, Junior. Just answer the question. The balls are squarely in your court ... for now."

Junior glared over his bloody nose before spitting the words at me, a little of his blood hitting my face. "Belltown. Try Eighth and Pine if you're lookin' to get mugged."

"Was that _really_ so hard?" I let him go, hearing the gasp of air as he flinched away. I grinned and backed off, a spring in my step as I moved towards the door.

I even left cash for my drink. Not paying would have been rude.

* * *

It was almost noon by the time I walked into one of the grimier alleyways in Vale's Belltown district. It had always been the kind of place you walked a little quicker, where drivers locked their car doors and rolled up their windows. So far, I was pretty disappointed. I'd spent the better part of an hour crossing back and forth between back streets, waiting for a sign of the gang that called this their turf. Maybe they were taking a siesta. I knew I could use one.

I made it halfway down the narrow alley before a man in his mid-twenties stepped out to block my path. It was about time, too. If they were going to be criminals, they could _at least_ be punctual ones. There was some weight to him – probably not a junkie, or he'd be a bit stringier. No, he moved with the swagger of someone who thinks a gun makes him invincible. This wasn't someone resorting to desperate measures out of need, this was his chosen career.

"Hey babe," he moved closer, "I was hoping you could give me some directio-"

I didn't let him finish. I could hear his friend coming up from behind – either to hit me in the back of the skull or hold me still while the frontman robbed me. I let his buddy get just close enough before I turned, curled my leg up and in, and lashed out behind me in a rear kick I'd stolen from my old combat instructor. I wasn't the biggest fan of karate – it wasn't really my style – but having been on the receiving end of that kick, I knew how much it could hurt. I caught the frontman in the gut, bowling him over as he clutched at his stomach. I switched my attention to the man coming up from behind. His hand reached down as he got closer, pulling up his shirt to grab for the 9mm trapped on the inside of his waistband. Not wasting a second, my arm flicked out, grabbing the handle and flicking the safety off.

The alley got a lot quieter, both men knowing the telltale sound of a weapon ready to fire. The first mugger started to get up, so I pushed the barrel a little harder against the second guy's pelvis.

"Another move, and your idiot friend can look forward to a promising career as a eunuch."

The guy holding his stomach stopped, stalled either by my threat or from the strain of trying to figure out what a eunuch was. The mugger with the gun down his pants either had a larger vocabulary or was smart enough to give up when a Glock shoved against his privates.

"Now, if I wanted to have a good time, would you boys be the guys to talk to?"

"Sure, yeah. Whatever you want, lady," he nodded wildly.

"And if I felt like partying with some of your Cardinal friends, you guys could make that happen?"

More nodding.

"And if I had a request for a particular one, say ... Russel Thrush?"

Ahh, the sweet sound of silent nodding. I pulled the gun from his pants, whirling him around and pressing the gun against his spine. Hopefully, no one would notice the barrel my hand couldn't completely cover.

I pushed, and we started walking, his partner moving slightly ahead of my captive. We'd only been walking about ten minutes before we came to

This was easier than I'd expected. Yeah, this was gonna work. I could _do_ this.

I should have known better.

That was about when everything went to hell. I'm still not entirely sure where the shot came from. One moment, I was forcing my unwilling guides down the alley, the next I was falling to the side, my shoulder burning. My hostage wasn't as lucky, falling face-first into the dirt, a hole coming out of the back of his shirt. I _do_ remember the remaining mugger bolting when the shot went off. I kept the borrowed gun up with my other hand, forcing myself to get up, to move.

I barely made it three blocks before my head was swimming. The blood loss was getting to me – I was lightheaded and unsteady as I crawled behind a dumpster. No more gunshots came, not pounding feet or spurt of automatic fire. I swore, and tried to look down at the wound.

Okay, that was enough blood that pretty much anyone on the street would try to stop me. Somehow I doubted the "it's just makeup for a movie" excuse was going to fly. I probably looked like shit. Plus, I wasn't sure how far I would get on my own. Gunshot wounds are pretty tricky. I hoped it was a through-and-through, but I wasn't really in a state to be making judgment calls.

That left one option.

I moved the gun into my left hand. The shoulder burned, but my fingers were flexing without too much trouble. I hissed as I reached into my pocket, the motion putting more strain on my already aching wound. I pulled out my phone, accepted my lack of options, and dialed.

The phone only rang twice before she picked up.

"Hey ... Weiss?"

"Hi Yang. Good timing. Just finished of my last meeting on the schedule. Now, I thought we could swing by Rosso's, maybe pick up something with oliv ..." She trailed off. Crap, she could probably hear my breathing through the phone. I tried to put a little more strength into my voice, make it sound a bit less like a dying wheeze.

"Yang, are you alright?" Apparently, I'd failed.

"Sorry, Princess. Corner of Ninth and Pine. Second alley down ... dumpster. No hospitals."

I could just barely hear her heels clicking furiously through the phone, a muffling shout to her driver before a door slam and an engine's rumble.

"What the hell did you do?"

"Got mugged. You should see the other guys."

"Just don't hang up, okay? Stay right there and stay on the phone. Don't you dare pass out on me, you idiotic, suicidal, complete and utter moron!"

I smiled as she ranted, the familiar sound of a Weiss tantrum oddly calming despite the blood seeping through my jacket.

I'm still not sure how she got there so fast. Actually, I may have passed out, because the next thing I remember is Weiss throwing her jacket over my bloodstains and helping her driver slide me into the car. I ended up in the back seat, getting blood all over Weiss' suit as she checked my wound, balling something up and pressing it against my aching shoulder.

"Thanks," I think I muttered, before everything went black.


	4. Homecoming, Part III

**Homecoming, Part III**

_March 25, 2014 - Yang_

I think I was in and out of consciousness for a while. I vaguely remember Weiss forcing me to drink something, a couple flashes of people moving me. Weiss must have drugged me at some point, or at least I _hope _she had. If I'd lost enough blood to pass out repeatedly, I was in worse shape than I'd thought.

When I woke up – _really _woke up – I was back at her apartment (the framed photo of teenage us with an eight year-old Ruby kinda gave it away). I was lying in a four-poster bed I didn't recognize, the curtains pulled back and tied to the bedposts. Must be her room. I had to smile at that. Weiss had always wanted a four-poster, something that had stuck with her since she was a kid. I guess it was one of those things you figured you might as well do once you're an adult. Probably healthier than having ice cream for breakfast, partying far too late, or going days without sleep just to see if you could. Not that I'd done _any _of those things during my one year at college. Definitely not.

Plus, an elegant four-poster worked a lot better for an adult than my childhood dream of a racecar bed.

Someone, Weiss probably, had shoved a mountain of pillows behind my back, trying to keep me elevated. My shirt was gone, leaving me lying there in my sports bra. Made sense, given how stained the shirt had been. A mostly-empty blood bag hung from one of the bedposts, the tube running down the side of the bed. I could still see the injection site, a bandage covering where the IV tube had sat. It probably wouldn't leave a scar, the needle hadn't been in me long enough. I still had one from an IV drip after the shrapnel incident, about the size of a pen nub just beneath the base of my thumb.

Weiss was easy enough to find, seated at my side, plugging away on her laptop.

"What's up, doc?" It came out raspier than I'd meant it to, the wound aching as I breathed too quickly.

She looked over, lips pursing as she rolled her eyes. "For the last time, I don't have a doctorate." She set the laptop aside, then moved over to me, pulling down the blanket to check my shoulder. The dressing looked new enough, although I bet she'd change it in a few hours.

"You fix a bullet wound, you qualify in my book." I wasn't particularly picky about the whole 'Doc' thing. I'd known more than a few medics who'd had the nickname. They'd deserved the title too, at least by our standards. Just didn't need a degree to prove it. Plus, when they were the only thing between you and bleeding out on a rock, 'doc' was a lot more hopeful. At least I hadn't been navy – I'm sure their Corpsmen were excellent, but the corpse puns my messed-up head spewed definitely would not have helped my recovery.

"Anyway, didn't you get like, three degrees in biology, or something all sciencey?"

"Biochemistry, and neither they, nor an MBA program, really prepares you for stitching up your half-naked friends." Weiss pulled back, perching on the chair so she could reach out to feel my forehead. "You're just lucky I developed a morbid fascination with gunshot wounds after you enlisted."

"... sorry about that."

She nodded, fingers moving down to check my vitals. I kept my mouth shut while she worked, which – despite what people say – wasn't really _that_ hard. Eventually, she let me go, apparently satisfied that I wasn't about to pass out on her. I waited for the shitstorm, the hail of fury that I'd been expecting since the moment I'd called her. Which, to be fair, I ... kinda deserved.

Instead, she sat back in the chair, pulling the laptop over before her fingers resumed their rhythmic pounding on the keyboard.

Okay, now this was getting weird. I knew Weiss. Like _knew_ her. She was supposed to be badgering me to tell her what stupid mess I'd gotten myself into, or what idiotic thing I'd done to get myself shot. Nope, she was practically ignoring me – which was _weird_. Really weird. Weiss was just not the cold-shoulder kind of girl. She was the 'scream at you while explaining why you were a complete moron' kind. Or at least, she had been.

"Where'd you get the blood?" I asked, trying to shift and immediately regretting it. Damn, that hurt. Moving slowly, I tested the shoulder, seeing how far I could move my arm without wincing. It wasn't as far as I'd like, but as bullet wounds went, I'd gotten off fairly easy.

"It's mine," she said, still typing away.

"You just had it lying around?"

"I store some, just in case."

"In case of what? You get bitten by a vampire? Need a stash of the old O negative to keep the munchies at bay?" Didn't get a laugh for that one. Guess she just wasn't having it today.

"Apparently, I have if for when my idiot friend gets shot and forbids me from taking her to a hospital." She still wasn't looking at me, staring crossly into her screen, fingers click-clacking furiously over the keys. "You're lucky I'm a universal donor, but I didn't have time to do a real cross-match between our blood samples. There's a chance your body might reject my cells, but since you didn't exactly give me much choice, I'm having my lab check the samples now – see if I have to rush you to a hospital after all."

"Sorry for the hassle."

"It's not the hassle, Yang. Do you have any idea how irresponsible this is? What if your body rejected my blood, or the bullet did more damage than I could fix? Or if the stored blood had become contaminated? You could catch sepsis, or-"

"Okay, Weiss, I get it. 'Don't do it again.'"

My nurse humphed, her point apparently made. She went back to ignoring me, still waiting for the results, I guess.

I decided I'd had about enough of silent Weiss. I raised my good arm, and reached out, fingers opening and twisting in increasingly complex gestures.

Eventually, Weiss noticed my insanity, looking over at the bed, irritation obvious on her face. "What are you doing?"

I let my arm flop back on the bed, pouting up into narrowed azure eyes.

"I have Schnee blood coursing through my veins, and I _still_ don't have ice powers."

Her eyes narrowed further as the clicked resumed. "You can be such a _child_ sometimes."

"You know, normally, I have this long talk with potential partners before I let them put bodily fluids in me." If she was gonna be grumpy, I was gonna up the ante. "But for _you_, I think I'll make an exception."

It took Weiss a second to piece apart the innuendo, before immediately going bright red. I couldn't help but grin; it was nice to see I could still press her buttons after all these years.

"Don't be a pest," she snapped, apparently trying to cover the embarrassed blush creeping up her neck. It _really_ wasn't working.

"I don't have hepatitis or something now, right?"

"Watch it, Yang."

"Chronic Tsundere Disease? Ice Queen Syndrome? Sickle-cell Schnee-nemia?"

"... you are a terrible human being."

"I practice."

"You know, I can always put the bullet back in."

"Shutting up now." I raised my good arm in surrender, even bothering to look sheepish until her glower softened. Finally, Weiss sighed, closing the clamshell lid. She looked more resigned than angry. Not a good sign – angry I could deal with. Resigned ... that meant she'd decided to _do_ something.

"Any time you want to tell me why I had to pull a nine-millimeter slug out of your shoulder, I'm all ears."

Okay. Shouldn't be too hard. Just have to tell her enough of the truth for it to sound real. "I got mugged. One of them got off a lucky sho-"

"No." Her voice pitched up like a schoolteacher catching you in a lie, making sure you knew she knew, and that she was having none of it. "Normal people go to the hospital."

"I don't have insurance?"

"Is that a question, or an answer?" Another sigh. "Don't try, Yang. You've never been good at lying to me."

Shit. Well, it was worth a shot.

"I _may_ have tried to get mugged, so that they could lead me back to the guy ... who shot my dad."

The silence came back, just long enough for her face to grow steadily redder, the earlier embarrassment replaced with sheer, impotent rage.

"You are _such_ an idiot!" Weiss half-tossed her laptop aside, the plastic case clattering on the dresser. "You go off half-cocked, nearly get yourself killed-"

"Weiss, I was army. Some punk with a handgun is not that much of a threat."

"Oh, so you went in with body armor, backup, sufficient intel, or at least significantly superior firepower? Because unless I'm mistaken, _that's _how the army's supposed to do things!"

Weiss was standing by the side of the bed, looking like she didn't particularly know or care how she'd gotten there. For someone that short, she was doing a fairly passable job of looming over me, sparks firing from her eyes while she yelled.

"You know, I _knew_ you wouldn't let this go, but for some reason, I was _stupid _enough to think you'd leave it at harassing Pyrrha at all hours for more information. Maybe hire a private investigator. No, you decide to go on a one-woman crusade!"

"What do you want me to do, Weiss? Sit back and wait for a police force _you_ said was incompetent?"

"I _want_ you to live long enough that Ruby can get over her abandonment issues. I _want _my friend alive, home, and safe, where I don't have to worry about losing her anymore!"

I didn't say anything for a while, just looked up into those angry blue eyes.

She wasn't wrong. I'd kinda left a mess behind me, and Weiss had been enough of a saint to put up with it. And then I'd shown up, and immediately gotten injured.

"I know this isn't fair. To either of you. But I _need_ to know, Weiss. I need to know why."

"We don't always get a _why_, Yang. Sometimes, bad things just happen."

"This wasn't Soap Opera disease. It wasn't a heart attack, or a car accident, or some cancer designed to teach some half-assed moral about valuing life. It was a guy. With a gun. I need answers, Weiss. I can't move on without knowing. I can't _live_ while whoever did this is still out there." I croaked through the last bit before my chest started convulsing, seizing with raspy coughs that made my wound ache. This much talking had been a bad idea, but I needed her to understand. To _get_ why I had to do this. Why I didn't have a choice.

Someone was lifting my head, pouring something down my throat. When I could breathe normally, I found Weiss standing over me, holding me upright, a now-empty cup in her hand.

"Alright," she whispered, jaw clenched as she put the glass on the nightstand. Gathering her stuff, Weiss moved to the door, already halfway through it before she turned back to me.

"Water's on the table, if you need it."

"Where are you going?"

"I have work." She gave me a look I didn't recognize, clutching her bag a little tighter. "Get some rest. I'll be back soon."

* * *

I spent maybe half a day in bed before the jitters got to me. I've never been a lounging around kind of girl. A few hours of rest, another of staring at the wall, waiting for something to happen, and then I was pushing myself out of bed on my good arm ... and ordered a pizza.

What?

Blood loss means you need to consume more iron, namely to let yourself make all those new red blood cells. Add in the required protein and electrolytes, and there really isn't any choice other than to dive teeth-first into a stuffed-crust Supreme straight from the ovens at Rosso's, with all the meat I could order. With jalapenos, of course. I'm not a savage.

Plus, I _really_ didn't feel like raiding Weiss' fridge.

I think the worst part was the silence. After years of messages and late-night calls, to have her here and not talking ... it sucked. _I_ sucked, for pissing her off this much. Not like there were many options when it came to defending myself this time. I'd known she wouldn't take this well – which was why I hadn't told her in the first place.

I gave her a day. A day of being good and quiet, and letting the flesh under the bandage start to knit itself back together. I kept knocking back the maximum allowable dosage of Advil; I'd have preferred _real_ painkillers, but when your hospital room consists of your friend's bedroom ... Well, you take what you can get.

After a combination of painkillers, pizza, and blood loss, it was a miracle I managed to make it to the couch before I collapsed, slipping into the deepest sleep I could remember having in a long time. I woke just after midnight with a blanket wrapped around my shoulders and pillow stuffed under my neck, the door to Weiss' room shut tight.

It was good to know. That she still cared. That she was mad _because_ she cared. It just didn't change what I had to do.

Forty minutes later, dressed in a t-shirt with a neck high enough to hide my bandages and a brown bomber jacket slung about my shoulders, I found myself walking towards a familiar red-and-white sign.

The club was almost unrecognizable by night, the lights in the flashy logo cranked up past eleven. Bright colors clashed with brighter clothes as people lined around the block to party and drink the night away. Whatever Junior might running on the side, I kinda had to respect his work ethic; even if it was just a cover, his business was booming.

My march back into a Triad den got cut short by a particularly beefy arm, attached to a particularly beefy man with more neck than head.

"You on the list?" he growled, sounding more like a rockfall than a human being.

"Buddy, I am _really_ not in the mood."

"Uh huh. Miss, I'mma need you to step ba-"

"Let her in," a voice called from within the club, long syllables pitching in a very distinctive whine.

I knew that whine.

The bouncer took one look at the twins standing behind him, and stepped aside. The sisters waited for me, heads cocked to the side as I stepped into the club. It was a far cry from the quiet, well-scrubbed hall I'd seen during the day. The music resonated in my bones, the bass pulsing, beating, pumping whatever alcoholic lifeblood kept this place moving. The room was a mix of shadows and flashing lights, sweeping neon beams that cut through the smoke-filled air. The crowd moved along to the DJ's beat, more talented dancers dominating the center of the floor while the less-skilled bounced and pumped along the outskirts. Inhibitions were low, blood alcohol was high, and I had no doubt half the crowd was blitzed out on some stimulant or other.

A few steps into the room, and the twins were around me, splitting to pass on either side. Their outfits were the same as the last time we fought – or similar enough that I couldn't spot the difference – with enough red and white for them to look like off-season Christmas elves. Well ... grumpy, pouty, potentially violent Christmas elves. Which, considering the staff of your average mall, might not actually be that abnormal.

Honestly, the look worked for them. I'd have thought with skin that pale, the red would have been too strong, the white too bleached, but they made it work. Plus, the whole 'color-coded for your convenience' thing meant there was no chance in hell of mistaking one sister for the other.

The room was already warm and steamy, the air conditioner working overtime to fight the body heat of the dancing patrons, but I could feel the temperature of the room climb a few degrees as the twins closed in.

Or maybe it was just me. I've always been a sucker for a girl in fur.

Some people just have this draw to them. Justify it as pheromones, or a primitive part of your brain saying that _this _is someone you could make _awesome_ babies with, but there are just some people who carry ... something. Heat, aura, fire, a swirling whirlpool of lust and madness that sucks you into an emotional abyss as black as the pits of hell ... the name changes depending on who you ask. It rests in their bones and rides on their backs, and just being near them turns you on.

Anyway, whatever you feel like calling it, these two girls _had _it. In spades.

Ignoring the image of being stalked by two particularly fashionable lions, I tried to loosen up my bad shoulder – I needed to be ready for whatever the two were about to throw at me. With my arm the way it was, I doubted it would go as well as last time.

At least I wasn't the only one looking the worse for wear; the last remaining traces of a bruise still ringed Red's eye, and I could still see the half-healed cut in the white twin's split lip.

The sisters stared up at me through lashes far too long to be natural. With about as much warning as a punch to the face, the girl in the red dress held out her hand.

"Miltia."

"Melanie."

"Here for another round?"

Okay. Wow. They looked, um ... _eager_.

I grinned awkwardly, gingerly shaking the offered hand. This wasn't how I normally found sparring partners, but I could definitely do worse. I'm sure they could, eventually, give me a real run for my money. Even if the half-lidded eyes and pouting lips screamed 'trouble.'

The stockinged legs definitely had nothing to do with it. Nope. Nothing at all.

Shaking my head sadly, I pulled the neck of my shirt down just enough to show the edge of the bandages.

"Not tonight. I wouldn't give you two much of a contest."

Now, I was more than ready to fend off any attacks from a couple of mooks pissed at having their asses handed to them. My good arm was just relaxed enough to block whichever one threw the first blow – and after seeing them both fight, I was definitely taking out the white twin first.

What I wasn't ready for, was Melanie grabbing my uninjured hand and dragging me towards a side room, Miltia flicking the curtains closed as we entered. Ignoring my protests, the white-dressed twin shoved me down onto one of the couches, her red counterpart yanking the neckline of my shirt to the side.

"The hell are you doing?" I stammered, grabbing the offending hand.

The two looked up at me in unison, giving me that derisive stare most people reserve for raving lunatics.

"Making sure you're okay."

Well, then. Apparently I wasn't getting a choice in the matter.

I tried not to think about what might have left the stains on the oh-so-tacky red satin while the two girls checked my wound. They were surprisingly efficient – almost clinical as they checked me over. It made sense, I guess; work for the Triads, eventually you were going to end up needing a little first aid here or there.

It was ... actually pretty nice. The twin's hands were warm on my skin as they worked, careful enough not to put any pressure on the wound itself.

Once they decided I wasn't about to collapse on them, Miltia glared up at me.

"Who did this?"

I had a nasty feeling that question did not come from a place of concern. "... why?"

"You're fun."

"You're good in a fight."

"And they just stole a rematch from us." The twins drawled back and forth, sharing the conversation in a way that could cause whiplash, if their voices ever changed from that slow, mocking drawl.

I'll be honest, getting dragged into the VIP lounge and manhandled by a pair of cute Chinese twins was _not_ how I'd expected this to go down. Continued terror at the she-beast who had busted her way in last time – _that_ I was ready for. Them wanting to try again, test their luck at beating me this time, sure, but not this. I wasn't about to complain, but it was taking longer than I'd like for me to string two words together.

In my defense, they were _really_ cute.

"'kaaay then. If, say, a friend of mine wanted to drop in on a few of her buddies in the Cardinals, especially if they were hiding, where would she look?"

The twins glanced back at each other, and I got a distinct impression of being completely out of the loop. Twin telepathy probably. It's too cool not to be a real thing.

"After you kill him, we want a rematch."

Well. Never had anyone endorse a murder for me before.

"When you're healed." Miltia laid her hand over the entry wound. I'd expected pain, but she was careful to keep the pressure off, and having her hand there ... it was oddly comforting. I could feel her warmth on what skin wasn't covered in gauze and tape, and _boy,_ was she warm.

"Never said anyone was gonna _kill_ him ... but I could be convinced to go another round with you two. If, someone told me where to look."

The two girls shared another glance, jade-green eyes blinking before they turned back to me. Without a word, Melanie slipped back through the curtain, leaving Miltia and me on the stained satin couch.

Something squeezed my arm, and I looked back to find Miltia running her hand down my bicep, her eyes following each muscled curve.

"You work out." It was a statement, not a question, delivered in that purring voice that made me ask myself if this really was a good idea. I wasn't sure if she was staring at me like a particularly juicy steak, or a brand new toy. Wasn't even sure which I'd prefer.

The curtains rustled, and Melanie came back into the room, followed by a crew-cut bartender in a black vest and horribly garish red tie.

Oh well. Too late to back out now.

"Sup Junior."

The triad lieutenant's jaw dropped. His eyes twitched, mouth working soundlessly while he looked for something to say to the gorgeous blonde who'd beaten him and his boys only a few days ago. It probably didn't help that I was lounging in his VIP room, with one of his better enforcers playing with my hair as she practically drooled over my arm, the other sister claiming my free side while he stammered.

A part of me felt bad for the guy. A small part, at least.

"What is wrong with you two?" he growled, staring daggers at Melanie.

"Junior!" I chastised, mock-angry. "Is that any way to treat a friend?"

"We're not friends, Blondie."

I grinned. Junior was big, heavy-set with a defending lineman's mass. Probably could have gone pro, if he hadn't settled into a life of crime. Would have made for some fun TV too; if the triads ever got involved in the NFL, I might actually watch a game. Hell, an all-mafia league would be awesome. _Way_ more fun than the average concussion.

Now, Junior had bulk, and he could probably use it, but that was about as far as he went. He was no prize fighter, his nose far too straight for anyone who got punched for a living. My shoulder might be slowing me down, but in a fair fight – or even better, an unfair one – I could probably take him one-handed.

Still, there was no guarantee that Melanie and Miltia wouldn't side with their boss over me. Probably best to keep this little meeting fairly low-key.

"Junior, either I'm a friend, and we help each other – like friends – or I'm the woman who breaks your stuff, and punches your face in until you tell me what I wanna know."

I let him stand and think about his choices. He knew I was capable of the beating; I'd done it before.

"Now, if I'm not mistaken, you and your ... Chinese 'contacts'," I finger-quoted for effect. I mean, we both knew who I was talking about. "You'd like it if the Cardinals stopped being a problem. I have a friend who's in a problem-solving mood."

"A friend."

"I'm just the middleman."

"Most middlemen don't end up shot."

"Most middlemen can't wipe the floor with a room full of Triad goons." I shot back, the twins shifting as they turned to glare at me. "And two very challenging and competent women."

Ruffled feathers smoothed, they settled back down against the sofa, Miltia still absently twining one blonde lock around her finger.

Junior rubbed at his jaw before speaking again. "The Cardinals got a lot noisier lately. Better guns, better men. They find out we were the ones who leaked their location ..." he shook his head, more at the argument he was having with himself than at me. "I can't start a war, not without a lot more support from my bosses."

"No one will connect my friend to you, Junior. She just wants a Cardinal. She thinks he's at their base, hideout, whatever you wanna call it. You give me the location, and she solves at least some of your little problem." He paused for a second, and I knew I had him. "You can even justify it as you being , oh what'do you all it, entrepreneurial. Say you found a way to pit two local players against each other, without getting yourself involved. Maybe you'll even get a promotion, or whatever benefits your bosses let trickle down."

More silence as the gears started to move, balancing the risk of telling me with the obvious risk of _not_ telling me. I tried to look as threatening as possible, which was proving to be pretty difficult on what I was almost sure was someone's sex couch. He was just about to speak when Melanie cleared her throat.

The pale young woman crossed her legs, raising one high-heeled foot as her eyebrows cocked, glaring up at Junior from behind half-lidded eyes.

Whatever Junior had been about to say, it died in his throat. Some of the strength went out of his spine, and the big guy slumped a little, starting another round of throat-clearing.

"When they took Belltown, the cops got pretty focused on finding their main hidey-hole. Apparently, whoever's in charge now has something of a brain, 'cause he moved their main place down to the shipyards. Assuming your guy's looking for protection, that'd be a place to start."

I pushed myself to my feet, part of me wanting to stay on that couch, trapped between the twins, the other part telling me to high-tail it out of here before everything went to hell. "You know, Junior, you're a real stand-up mobster."

The glare he shot me could have scorched steel. Still, he nodded, threw a look back at Melanie, and walked out, calling a parting shot over his shoulder.

"Take her out the back. I don't want anyone seein' her here."

Melanie nodded, leading me by my uninjured hand and not letting go until we were standing behind the club's dumpsters.

"Now," she drawled, "how about that rematch?"

I had a decision to make. This was either gonna go really well, or in a few weeks I'd be waking up hog-tied in someone's trunk. Or worse, _not_ waking up in someone's trunk.

Still, a deal was a deal.

"When the shoulder heals, I know where to find you," I said, eyes flicking between identical pairs of blue-green eyes.

"That ... might not the best idea."

"Some of the boys aren't as forgiving as we are."

"Not that they're a threat, but we'd rather fight you fresh," Miltia picked up after her sister paused.

"Here," Melanie turned my hand over, pressing something small into my palm. "When you're ready, give us a call."

The two slipped back into the club, one last unreadable look shot over their shoulders, bringing visions too enjoyable for them to be legal to my already-overtaxed mind.

I looked down, finding one of the club's matchboxes in my hand, '_Just_' scrawled in red on one side, their number neatly printed on the other.

Yup. One more thing to go on the list of stuff I could _never _tell Weiss. Honestly, it was starting to look like a pretty long list.


	5. Homecoming, Part IV

**Homecoming, Part IV**

_March 25, 2014 - Yang_

I managed to make it back to Weiss' penthouse without any trouble, locking the door behind me and setting my borrowed key back on the counter. I risked a glance down the hall towards her room, the pang of guilt I'd grown to expect making its nightly appearance.

Her door was still open.

I peeked in, wondering if she was still awake, if maybe I could apologize, or explain, or ... something.

Her room was empty, the bed neatly made. Couldn't even tell if she'd slept in it. I stood there for a second, wishing she was here and not knowing what I'd say if she was. Then I slid the door shut and collapsed on the couch.

Weiss didn't deserve this. Yet here I was, hiding in her house, having her rescue me from bloodstained alleys, and letting her bandage me up when I got injured. It wasn't fair, and it definitely was not what I had planned when I thought of coming back.

I spent the next half hour staring at the ceiling, waiting for sleep and wishing things were different. That my father wasn't dead, that my sister didn't hate me, that somehow I could just let this go. The first one I couldn't change, the second was my fault, and the third ...

I woke a few hours later, my shoulder screaming after I'd rolled onto it in my sleep. I growled and punched the pillow back into shape. Within seconds, I was out cold again.

When I woke the second time, light was already trickling through the blinds, cutting little bordered sections of shadow into the carpet. Weiss was standing over me, shaking my uninjured shoulder and looking disturbingly awake.

"Yang, wake up."

"... five more minutes."

Her only answer was another shake. Groggily, I blinked up at her. "In case you hadn't noticed, I've got this bullet hole. Kinda making it hard to move quickly."

She didn't smile. That was not a good sign. Usually I could get at least a muscle twitch out of her. Granted, it may not have been the best time for humor.

"I'm not in the mood, Yang. Up."

I shoved myself off the couch with my good arm, overused muscles, bruises, and still-raw flesh complaining as I got to my feet.

Without a word, Weiss headed off down the hall, past her room and around the corner. I followed, doing my best not to limp.

Wherever Weiss was taking me, it wasn't far. A few feet past the corner, and we were in what looked like a private workout room – one I was totally gonna beg to use. Even if it was a little lacking in the weight department. Made sense; she always was more of a runner.

An almost annoyingly large flat-screen sat in the center of the wall, treadmill and a rowing machine positioned so Weiss could always watch while exercising. A pull-up bar and a small line of rubber-coated dumbbells sat against the wall, while an isolated cast-iron kettlebell gathered dust in the corner.

In the center of the room, atop a pale blue yoga mat, sat several large, matte black cases. Normally, big black boxes don't normally bode too well, and the Schnee symbol printed on the front didn't help matters either. But that's what Weiss marched off to, grabbing the latches and snapping them open.

"This is for you." Weiss flicked the first case open, turning it so I could see inside. Nestled in among black foam padding sat a set of black-and-gray plates, held together by some sort of fabric that rustled quietly when Weiss flicked it out.

"Bullet-resistant Kevlar weave, coated in a shear thickening fluid. Reinforced plating around the chest and vital areas. It shouldn't interfere too much with your range of motion."

"Weiss, I-"

She flicked open another lid, cutting me off with a metallic clack.

"Greaves." Another clack. "Thigh plating."

"Weiss, where did you-"

"Ballistic face mask." One more clack, this one loud enough to make me flinch, the case bucking from the sheer force. She reached for another, and I held it shut before she could take her frustrations out on it.

"Slow down. Please."

Weiss stepped back, crossing her arms as she stared at me.

"Okay," I paused, trying to process all of this. "First, whose is this?

"Mine."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. More specific: who ordered this?"

"The military. I can't be more specific than that. There's talk of using it for high-risk insertions, but there are ... drawbacks."

"What, no one wants to invest this much in some random infantry?"

Now it was her turn to roll her eyes. "Actually, we should be able to streamline production quite a bit. The problem is that it interferes with navigational systems. The body armor's designed to self-repair, and the signals sent out by the nanomachines caused some malfunctions during the testing phases. We've sidelined the design, at least until we can solve the signal issue."

"And no one's going to miss it if I 'borrow' it for a while?"

"Not unless Accounting actually does their job and sends someone to archive the mothballed prototypes." Weiss pulled the final case out from under my hands before flicking the lid open. At least she was a touch more gentle this time.

_This_ one was a pair of gunmetal-gray tubes, concentric pieces ringing out from the inner core. The bands started from the outside, tapering down to a point, covering or slipping beneath others in a compact, sleek design. What looked like shotgun shells ringed the outside, small cylinders that sat along one of the inner rings.

"The hell are these?"

"Dual Ranged Shot Gauntlets, affectionately named the DRSG." Weiss lifted one of the pair out from the black case, hefting the weight of it before handing it over. "Designed as riot-suppressant gear. It can take a few forms of specialized ammunition, but the primary mode uses a cavitation ..." Weiss trailed off, noticing my blank stare. Sighing, she pushed her hair back out of her face. "They make concussion blasts when you fire."

I whistled, carefully sliding one over my wrist, holding still as Weiss reached out to secure the plates around my forearm.

"Is it non-lethal?"

"Usually. The manual's in the box."

Convinced it wasn't about to go flying off my arm, I took a few practice swings, getting a feel for the weight of the gauntlet on my arm.

"Last question,"

"Somehow I doubt that." Great. Weiss was feeling sarcastic. Well, at least it was better than her slamming things.

I put the gauntlet back in the case, fingering the latch before meeting her eyes. "Why? Why all this?"

She paused for a long moment, one hand running over the Schnee corporate logo etched into the plastic case.

"Because you're going to do this one way or another. If I help, you're more likely to come out of this alive," the heiress growled, smoothing out her skirt as she spoke. "Plus, I can use you as a test run for the design."

"There's the Weiss I know." I made sure to beam, grateful for any change in the conversation. "Always finding a way to help the company."

Weiss huffed quietly, our feeble attempts at humor falling flat.

"I have a few conditions."

"Name 'em."

"No killing. I'm not letting you borrow this so you can go on a murder streak. You find this guy, and you leave him for the cops."

"... deal." I agreed, not meaning it. "Anything else?"

"Just make it out of this alive." After a second of annoyingly awkward silence, she laid the empty case by the others, stepping around the treadmill on her way out the door.

"Hey," I called to her retreating back. "I'm sorry I dragged you into this."

She stopped, her hand hovering over the doorknob. "Wrong apology, Yang."

Weiss left, and the door clicked shut.

* * *

It was dark again by the time I managed to figure out how all the equipment worked. Apparently, making a handbook that someone without a PhD could understand wasn't a priority. Made sense. They hadn't gotten to the 'how to let normal people use it' phase of the design.

The bodysuit slid on before the rest of my clothes, a skintight weave that felt more like a wetsuit than anything else. The rest of the armor went into one of my duffels, wrapped in a beach towel I'd 'borrowed' from the hall closet.

Within an hour I was standing in front of the address Junior had given me, the run-down warehouse scarred with rust and tagged with graffiti.

I found a well-hidden alley, pulling the remaining armor plating out of the gym bag and tossing the rest of my clothes inside. Some of the plates were built into the suit itself – elbow shielding, most of the upper arm pieces – but the rest secured to small metal prongs built into the suit. The chestpiece strapped around my ribs, the almost disturbingly thin plates covering my vital areas, the high collar of the chest and shoulder pieces giving my head room to move while still protecting my neck. The face mask came last, sliding down over the top of my head, curved lenses flickering as I clicked the night-vision mode on.

I had to be honest: Weiss, and her company, had outdone themselves. I'd never worn body armor like this, nothing this light and flexible. I just had to hope it held up to her expectations. She'd never forgive herself, or me, if it didn't.

Time to test it.

The first step was easy – I just had to make it to the warehouse without getting seen. Or just take out anyone who saw me. Both were perfectly serviceable options.

I turned the corner, only to whip back around as a sentry passed by, his hand gripping the pistol shoved into the waistband of his pants. I cursed my rotten luck and waited for him to leave, my heart pounding while I came down from my panic-high.

Eventually, he moved on, muttering something about always being the guy to get this job. Huh. Maybe shutting them down would be good for him. If he, you know, didn't get in my way or anything.

Once he was out of sight, I turned the corner for the second time. Convinced no one else was about to show up, I bolted for the door set into the side of the warehouse, my boots clicking softly on the ground as I moved.

It was easier than I'd expected. I'd been prepared for the armor plating to slow me down – having spent a few years running around in armored vests, I was used to the extra effort it took to get stuff done.

I didn't need to worry. The armor moved with me like a second skin, the webbing keeping my range of motion clear. It was ... incredible. I'd thought that the gear Weiss had sent after the IED had been good, but this ... this was fucking genius. Whoever'd designed this deserved a Nobel. Or whatever prize you gave out for building kickass weapons. The Gun-ny?

The door wasn't locked, and within seconds, I was inside, crouched behind the nearest cover I could find. No offense to Weiss, I trust her judgment, but I didn't want to test the suit's plating if I didn't have to.

Voices came from further inside, muffled by stacks of wrapped shipments and sealed crates. Moved as quietly as I could, I moved through the aisles, ears open for the sound of incoming footsteps.

I was right to worry, and just as I made it to the opposite wall, a gang-banger walked past the stack next to me. I ducked, hiding behind a crate that I swear must have held a whole damn china shop. That or a couple dozen poorly-balanced wine glasses. I bumped the box a little too hard, and the crackling shatter of a thousand porcelain plates hit my ears.

I heard the guy stop and turn towards me. Of course he did, there was no chance in hell he hadn't heard that. Unless he was deaf. Please let him be deaf. It would be so awesome if this one guy happened to be deaf.

Yeah, he wasn't deaf. I heard the intake of breath, and I moved, leaping between the shelves, one gauntleted fist slamming into his throat before he could warn the others. I caught him as he flailed, grabbing at his throat in panic. He kept gasping, one hand going for the gun stashed in the waistline of his jeans.

I wasn't giving him that chance. I bounced his head off the wooden shelf like a basketball, bloodshot eyes rolling up in his head as he blacked out. I laid him quietly on the floor, well and truly concussed. At least he was still breathing, so he'd probably be fine. Probably.

I waited for shouts, gunfire, someone sounding an alarm, but nothing came. Grinning at my own luck, I snuck down the rest of the aisle, British spy music trumpeting in my head with every step.

Another set of doors, and I was in a long hallway, piles of crates and the odd stack of chairs randomly left along the sides. Something horrific hit my nose, and I looked down to find my boot planted in something that I sincerely hoped was vomit. Not surprising, I guess. You wouldn't necessarily expect a bunch of drug dealers and gangsters to tidy up after themselves.

Suppressing the urge to shudder, I wiped off my boot on the ground before continuing. The next door was the kind that had those little glass windows set in the top, crisscrossed with little wires to reinforce the glass. You know, in case someone decided to break in or something.

Who'd have thunk, right?

Past the glass and the little wires, I could see five – no, six. One was sitting behind what had to be the dirtiest fridge I'd ever seen – men with various amounts of tattoos sitting around a makeshift poker table made from two upturned crates. The room was too small to avoid them, with nothing between the doors and the game.

Worse yet, there was no chance of me getting past them without being seen.

Okay. Plan B it was. Or was I on Plan C by now?

One solid kick sent the doors flying inward, clanging as the metal handles dented the walls. Every guy in the room bolted to his feet, guns coming up as a woman in armor burst into the room, fist raised out ahead of her.

There was no elegance, no grace, just me aiming Weiss' gauntlets at six guys around a poker game.

"Yippee ki-yay." I grinned, and fired.

The shockwave ripped down the room, shredding wood from pallets, light fixtures shattering and sending sparks flying across the room.

Yeah. I punched so hard I wrecked the room. A girl could get used to this ... if I hadn't been knocked on my ass, back through the now-open doors. Apparently I needed to tone down the power level a bit. Eighty percent was a bit too much.

I rolled back onto my feet, making a note to brace myself better next time, and bolted into the room. Three of the gang members were out cold, the other three staggering as they picked themselves up off the concrete. I didn't let them up, planting gauntleted fists in the backs of skulls. They stayed down, the reinforced knuckles hitting hard enough to keep them out for a while.

Once the place was clear, I bolted for the next room. There was no way anyone in there hadn't heard that blast; for all I knew, there was an army of guys with guns pointed at the door. So, probably best to not just yank the handle.

The metal slab flew off its hinges at another blast from the gauntlets, crashing through the room before coming to a stop, teetering against the far wall. I followed it through the now-ruined doorway, fists raised and ready to fire.

The room was empty, except for one strung-out man feebly pointing a gun at me, his shaved head and bleach-blond mohawk poking out from behind a hastily stacked pile of crates.

"L-look." His voice shook as much as his pistol, the barrel waving back and forth in his outstretched arm. Looks like I didn't need the armor after all; with his aim, he'd be lucky to hit anything _but _me.

"You rob the Cardinals, you gotta know you ain't makin' it out of here alive."

"Not here for that." I took another step forward, arms pumping to cock the firing mechanism of the gauntlets. Russell flinched, the ker-clack ominously loud in the otherwise silent room.

"Then ... the hell do ya want?"

"You're Russell Thrush?"

"... yeah. Who's askin'?" I could see gears slowly turning behind his eyes, trying to piece together why anyone would break in if not to steal their stash.

I grinned. I knew he couldn't see it behind the mask, but still, finally getting to this little slimeball – it just felt _good_.

"I'm here for you."

He ran. I shouldn't be surprised. No one ever accused drug dealers of being brave.

One low-powered blast knocked his feet out from under him, sending him crashing into the wall, his gun clattering along the concrete floor. Turning, he scampered back as far as he could, cowering while an armored monster in a death mask slowly stalked towards him.

"P-please, I ... I have a family. I-I'm just doin' this for them."

Oh, for the love of God. "First, bullshit. Second, answer my questions and maybe I let you go back to being the leading candidate for worst son of the year."

He blinked, looking torn between the hope that he might make it out of here alive, and suspicion about what I wanted. "... 'bout what?"

"There was a man. Vincent Rose. You killed him. I want to know why."

Russell's eyes went wide with fear. Real fear. Fear of something worse than an insane woman with shotgun fists. His jaw snapped shut, eyes flickering back and forth as looked for some way to escape.

I moved my fist an inch to the right and fired, the shot decimating the space past his ear. The scumbag screamed, grabbing at the side of his head, a small trickle of blood leaking out through his fingers.

Oops. My aim apparently wasn't as good as I'd hoped. At least it could work in my favor – I could totally pretend that I'd meant to do that.

"They'll kill me!" he spat, swearing as he clung to his newly-pierced ear.

I cocked my gauntlet back. This was the man who murdered my father, who gunned him down in cold blood and left him to die. I wanted answers, and he deserved whatever I did to him. _Anything_ I did to him.

"I don't have time for this bullshit. You're going to tell me what I want to know, because if you don't, you have zero chance of getting out of this alive. If you do, at least you can try making it out of town."

He didn't answer. Fine.

I grabbed a loose chunk of broken crate off the ground, hefting the wood in my gauntleted hand.

"You want to see what these do up close?"

There was flash of light and a wash of heat as I fired, my hand catching a bit of the backlash from the point-blank shockwave. I gritted my teeth through the pain; I couldn't show any signs of weakness right now.

Still, note to self: don't do it again.

If anything, his eyes got wider, watching "L-look, Ididn't kill him."

"He was shot with _your_ gun." I cocked my fist again, my bad shoulder complaining as I grabbed a fistful of his shirt, slamming him back against the wall. "Let's see how well you can lie with a broken jaw."

"It wasn't me!" His arms came up, shielding his face as he cringed. "We just signed on to grab the guy. Then some suit shows up and asks him something, all up-close and quiet. Suit doesn't like the answer, so he jacks my gun and puts three in him. I swear, we didn't know what he was gonna do."

I didn't lower my arm. "Who hired you?"

"I dunno. The jackass handling the money was some middleman. Went by Roman."

"I need a last name."

"I don't know – something Russian. Trakinovik ... Turikanokov?" "Look, we had a deal. I told you what you wanted. You gotta let me go."

The idea of dragging him up to the roof before 'letting him go' flashed through my head. He'd deserve it. Hell, he deserved worse. He deserved to pay for what he'd done.

I'd promised Weiss. No deaths. I'd kept it so far, I think.

But – and it was a pretty big 'but' – Russell might be able to guess who I was, if he didn't know already. Eventually he'd speak with his mother, and I had no doubt she'd mention the supposedly pregnant blonde who'd shown up at her doorstep. Add in who I'd been asking about, and either Russell or the cops might figure out who the woman in the armor was.

He deserved whatever I did to him, and he couldn't tell anyone what I'd asked if he wasn't alive to talk.

Still, I'd promised Weiss.

* * *

I managed to make it back to the penthouse without any problems, locking the door behind me before setting the bag of armor plating against the wall. The suit stayed, hidden under my clothes, at least until I could get back to the exercise room and disassemble it. Weiss was already home, her laptop resting beside her on the couch, staring up at me with her arms crossed.

I'm not sure if you've ever been on the receiving end of a Weiss Schnee Special, but her glare could freeze lava. It sent shivers down my spine – and I'd just punched my way through in a gang hideout.

She wasn't talking, so I went for direct.

"I found the guy."

"And?"

"... and someone hired him to kidnap my dad."

"You believe him?"

"He had a lot of incentive." I told her everything, starting from the warehouse. She nodded and listened, occasionally asking me something about how the gauntlets or the body armor had performed. I finished after I told her what Russell had given me, trailing off while I waited for her to say something.

Finally, she met my eyes. "What did you do with him?"

"... I let him run. Told him to disappear, and if I he ever came back, I'd bury him so deep they'd never find the body."

Weiss nodded, then went back to her laptop. We sat like that for a little while, me waiting for her to say something, her pointedly ignoring me.

"Hey, Weiss."

She glanced up for a second before going back to work. "What?"

"You mind if I make dinner? For us?"

"Are you trying to apologize through food?"

"... maybe _with_ food." I gave her my best 'I'm sorry' grin. "Look, I thought that I'd be able to take care of this on my own. I didn't want you getting involved, or the cops coming after you or Ruby for something _I_ needed to do."

I watched her face, waiting for some sign of what she was thinking. Finally, she sighed, arms going slack at her side as she glowered at me.

"Have I ever mentioned that you're an idiot?"

"It's come up a few times." That one actually got the ghost of a smile out of her. "Italian sound good?"

"... sure."

With a grin, I headed to the workout room, changed, and bolted for the kitchen.

Now, I'd like to think I'm a pretty good cook, actually. Not like army food was terrible, but on the few occasions where I'd had the chance to actually cook something, I went all out. Something about the idea of creating something, only to devour it a few seconds later, always appealed to me. There'd been more than a few nights of me bent over a stove, listening to Chef Ramsey's _Cooking with Jack_ in the background.

Plus, it meant I got to play with knives.

Don't take this wrong, but I like knives. Not in a murder-y, 'mwahahaha-stabby-stabby' kind of way, I just like the feel of them. When I was a kid, there was this sushi restaurant in Vale I loved. The chefs were really flashy, flipping knives around like madmen before cutting into the fish. It took me longer than I'll admit to realize that the sushi was pretty sub-par. Not terrible, but the place went for flair over quality. But to eight-year-old Yang, it had looked like the best job in the world, just juggling knives all day while they cooked.

So, with only a little sheepishness, I'll admit that I still flip knives around when I get the chance. Food always tastes better when you have fun making it.

Grabbing the bell pepper, I tossed the knife into the air, catching it by the back of the blade with my other hand, flipping it around until the handle rested in my palm. Without stopping, I cleaved through the vegetable, dicing it with the clean, maniacal fury of a whirlwind. I mouthed a silent 'wha-cha!' before reaching for the onion, ignoring the stinging in my eyes as I cleaved and chopped my many-layered victim. I twirled the knife one last time, flicking the last bits of onion into the sink as I stood triumphant over my dissected foes.

"Could you not do that?"

I paused mid-chop, looking up to find Weiss standing in the doorway, her arms folded under her breasts, eyes locked on the knife in my hand.

"I keep waiting for you to slice off a finger."

I rolled my eyes. "Weiss, I spent the better part of eight years getting shot at. A kitchen knife is the least of my worries."

"You think I don't know that?" she snapped, moving around the kitchen island to glare up at me. Crap.

"When you ran off, I used every one of my father's contacts to make sure I got your after-action reports. I know about the IED, about you getting shot in Vacuo, the dust-off with the mercenaries, all of it. I was notified _every_ single time you got hurt, so do me this _one _favor and be careful with that stupid knife. You owe me that."

I set the knife on the table, careful to put it down as softly as I could. The stuff she'd mentioned ... well, it probably _would_ match any of the official reports. Best not to get into it.

"I'm sorry, Weiss. I'll be good."

She nodded, her jaw still clenched. She wanted to hug me. She wouldn't, and would definitely never admit it, but she wanted to. I could still tell. I hugged her first, knowing it would take her way too long to admit it.

She hugged me back, shocking me with the strength in her arms. Little Weiss had all grown up. Well, she'd grown. Just not exactly _up_. With the suits, the corporate job, and the whole 'here's a prototype weapon I made so you can wreak your revenge' _.

"You know, I still need to cut the vegetables."

"No, you don't," she growled into my shoulder. "It's my kitchen; I'll do the cutting."

"Kinda defeats the idea of me cooking for you."

"Yang Xiao Long, give me that knife, or I order takeout. Choose."

I grinned and held up my hands in surrender, backing away from the cutting board. With a satisfied huff, Weiss took my spot, calmly dicing the vegetables before dumping them into the sauce-pot.

It was nice, if oddly domestic, having Weiss working next to me while _we_ cooked. Normally, I like to have the kitchen to myself, but she kept out of my way, kept there from being too many cooks in the kitchen. By the time we'd finished, we were both starving.

It was the best meal I'd had in a long time.


	6. Homecoming, Part V: Omake

Author's Note: Uncensored versions with content not allowed on FF can be found at my profile under the same name on AO3.

**Homecoming, Part V (Omake)**

_April 3rd, 2014 - Yang_

"So ... we're really doing this?"

"Trying to slip out of our deal?" Melanie drawled, bouncing on one foot and stretching her other leg.

I grinned, hearing the challenge in her voice and not putting too much effort into ignoring the skin I could see down her top. "No. This just isn't what I'd expected."

And it definitely wasn't. Honestly, I'd half-expected to get yanked into some underground fight ring, with chanting bettors flashing wads of cash while they rallied for the demise and/or victory of the various combatants. Apparently, the two had decided that our re-match was a more private matter, since the address they'd given me turned out to be a bare-bones gym in what could only be described as the middle of nowhere.

Which, in turn, was equally unexpected. Given the ... 'flair' ... the twins had shown at the club, any gym I would have placed them at probably served seasoned bottles of lemon water, or some re-hydrated nutrient slurry. But instead of pristine treadmills and hyper-fit coaches murmuring or shouting encouragement, our rematch had been arranged in a room that looked more like an abandoned factory – blank concrete and corrugated walls set behind unadorned padded benches and racks of free weights.

"What?" Miltia asked, trapping her midnight-black hair behind a crimson headband. "We don't _always_ wear our club clothes."

I snorted. For all they'd 'changed,' the two still had their color-themed outfits, trading in the minidresses and heels for fitted capris and tank-tops. I had to admit, the white-and-red duo still looked plenty snazzy without all the glamour. Honestly, they looked more suited for a men's magazine exercise-themed photo-shoot than an actual fight. Especially compared to me in my shorts-and-hoodie combo.

"Now, are you going to keep ogling the place, or are you ready for payback?" Miltia asked, arms stretched out above her head, chest pushed forward as her back arched.

Noting the completely 'accidental' nature of the stretching and the barbs the twins kept shooting at me, I rolled my eyes and stepped into the ring.

They came at me as fast as lightning, alternating between attacks, keeping me on the defensive while they backed me to the edge of the mat. I ducked under one of Melanie's kicks, using the momentum to knock her off balance, only to feel one of Miltia's swipes coming down towards my back.

I rolled out of the way, giving Melanie the time she needed to get back to her feet. They weren't holding back. Not that I'd expected them to, but my shoulder still hadn't fully healed, and that arm wasn't moving quite as quickly as I'd have liked.

A white-clad hand landed on my good shoulder, and I could just see a flash of red as Miltia hooked my knee. In an instant, I was laid out on the mat, Melanie was already wrapping her legs across my chest, grabbing onto my arm as she leaned back, fighting to extend the joint while her sister mounted my hips.

"You know," Miltia looked down at me through her half-lidded eyes, "That jacket really looks like it's constricting her motion."

"Think we should take it off?"

"It would be unfair not to." One hand unwrapped itself from my wrist, gripping my zipper while I jerked against Melanie's legs.

"You two are _so_ dead," I growled, testing to see how much give I had in Melanie's hold.

"Well, if we've already been sentenced, might as well commit the crime." Miltia smirked, heavy-lidded eyes finally looking more playful than bored, and slowly, deliberately, drew down the zipper of my sweatshirt.

Now, it wouldn't have been hard for me to toss her off, tackle her back on the mat and crush the little Misses Malachite beneath my much heavier frame. They were good, but Melanie's grip was off, and I had more than enough freedom to turn the tables on them.

I ... just needed wait for the right moment. Which wasn't then. Nope. Definitely not _right_ then.

"You know," Melanie drawled, her voice slightly strained from the effort of pinning me in place. "All you have to do is admit defeat. We'd be happy to let you go."

"Never."

"Well then. We'll just have to find some other way to make you submit."

One hand pushed aside the edges of my hoodie, taking its time to feel each bump of my abs before Melanie slowly reached for the softer part of my chest. Her fingers slipped over sweaty skin, teasing the edge of my sports bra, mischief glinting in her heavy-lidded eyes.

"Still don't want to surrender? We can be very ... accommodating."

I grinned. "Sorry, but I prefer being on top."

With as little warning as I could manage, I bucked my hips and twisted, collapsing into the arm Melanie had been trying to extend and knocking Miltia off my hips with a squeak. Before she could fix her grip, I rolled, rotating around until I could slip out of her grasp completely, my now-abandoned sweatshirt still caught in Melanie's hand.

We were all on our feet in seconds, Miltia tucking into a little ball of fury that leapt at me. I caught her mid-leap, using her momentum to toss her past me onto the mat. Melanie chose that moment to go for a headlock, but I saw her arm coming, grabbing the wrist and twisting. I shifted my grip and rolled, pulling her along behind me and wrapping my free arm around her neck, pinning her back to my chest and extending her elbow until I was sure she couldn't break free. Miltia was already on one knee, so I reached out, wrapping my thighs around her neck and pinning her down, hoping my weight would be enough to keep the much smaller woman in place.

Getting them onto the mat had been the easy part. Holding onto both of them proved more of a challenge – Miltia doing her best to get out from beneath my legs, and Melanie kept scrabbling at the arm locking her head against my chest.

"Don't suppose you two feel like giving up?"

Miltia mumbled something against my leg, but I wasn't about to loosen my grib enough to hear it. So, rebuttal duties fell to Melanie instead. "And lose to you again? Never."

The white-clad twin jerked against my arm, her free hand trying to gain enough purchase to slip out of the headlock. She needn't have bothered.

"Look." I said, trying to sound as reasonable as possible while pinning the twins to the ground. "I'm getting the feeling that you two _may_ have had some ulterior motives for this little rematch of yours."

"... and what if we did?"

"Well, with my bad shoulder versus the two of you, I'm more than willing to call this a draw and settle it ... some other way."

"... what other way?"

"Depends. Do those doors lock?"

Melanie nodded against my arm. "The whole place is ours for tonight."

"Then what are we waiting for?"

I released my grip and tossed Melanie to the side, watching her roll onto her feet. Unlocking my legs from behind Miltia's neck, I shucked the snorts and sports top, leaving me standing on the mat in the buff, weight still centered on the balls of my feet, just in case either of them decided fighting would be preferable to the 'alternate' activity I was suggesting.

"So," I asked. "We doing this or what?"


	7. Thief, Part I

**Thief, Part I**

_April 12th, 2014 - Yang_

The city of Vale sits high along America's western coast, crouched beneath the crimson forest that forms Forever Fall, the eastern edge of the Pacific lapping along its side. The ever-red maple trees – _acer semperrubrums_, I think Weiss called them once – sprinkle their way down through the city, lining sidewalks well into the commercial district, eventually giving way to less iconic evergreens. They finally stop their southward trek at the banks of the Beacon River, which flows from a lake surrounded by the university that bears its name, splitting the city in half before emptying out into the harbor. Halfway down, it's joined by the Vermilion tributary, snaking its way northward and cupping the residential district between the two branches, shielding its inhabitants from the hustle and bustle of the northern skyscrapers and the grinding factories in the east.

Weiss' penthouse sits atop a high-rise on the northern bank of the river, close enough to see where rivers join, bearing their fair share of summer kayaks and sailboats out towards the ocean. In summer, the boats fill the water, gathering for races and fireworks displays, keeping just enough distance from the ferries loaded with passengers making the trip out to Patch Island. Even this early in the spring, a few courageous souls dare the cold water, tiny shapes meandering beneath and between the bridges, with longer slopes cutting between the others as rowing teams stroke their way along. If you step out onto the patio in the evening, you can stare out across the water, looking down at the short, squat houses built along the sloping hills on the opposite bank, a few lights glinting from lucky souls living on the beachfront.

Which is precisely where I sat, leafing through the Vale Times and circling entries in the classifieds section in yellow highlighter. I was just turning to the next page, trying to find a job that wouldn't make me want to drive a screwdriver between my eyes, when I heard the tell-tale click of heels on the hardwood floor.

"What are you doing?"

"Want ads," I said, circling yet another job that might possibly take me. "Can't freeload off you forever."

Weiss made a little skeptical snort behind me, and I swiveled around to look. My host stood in the doorway, a sleeveless black cocktail dress clinging to her sides, little rings of black sequins sprinkled liberally across her neckline.

"Zip me up?" Gathering her long, white hair in one hand, she turned, exposing her half-covered back, pale skin broken only by the lacy black strap that cut beneath her shoulder blades. I obliged, careful to keep the odd strand of hair from getting caught in the zipper's steel teeth.

"Thanks," she said, letting her locks settle across her back. She half-turned back towards the windows, eyes flicking to her faint reflection as her hand came up to fix her hair. She stopped, suddenly self-conscious, and lowered her hand back to her side, looking a little flushed.

Nah. It was probably just a trick of the light. Or she was still a little pink from the shower. Weiss's preference leans toward the barely survivable side of boiling her skin off, a fact I'd discovered fairly painfully my third night here. How she keeps from getting third-degree burns is beyond me.

"You look good," I said, giving her an exaggerated once-over before nodding approvingly. "Hot date?"

She gave me a look that was half-eye roll half-scowl before turning her attention to a spec of lint marring the light-leeching black of her dress. "Charity gala that I'm expected to attend, and I'm bringing Ruby. She's thrown herself into her work lately, and I want her to do spend a few hours doing something outside of work or school."

I nodded absently. Neither of us mentioned the reason my sister had been working so hard, or why she'd spent very little time in the penthouse she shared with Weiss. Namely, the blonde standing uncomfortably on the patio.

"Speaking of the office, I have a delivery for you." Weiss vanished back into the apartment, only to emerge with a manila folder two inches thick.

"Tell me you're not giving me homework."

"No, _this_ you might actually read," she said, enough humor in her voice to keep it in the territory of friendly ribbing. "The name you 'found' – I had one of our security consultants call in a favor from someone he knows at Interpol. You'd be surprised at the number of people who've been reported to pose a danger to SDC's holdings."

"Long list?"

"Extremely."

"And if, _hypothetically_, someone had a 'chat' with just one of those names ..."

"It would clearly be due to the man's chosen occupation, not because of an inquiry made by a very respectable corporation." Weiss actually smiled at that.

I flicked open the manila folder. At the top of the pile sat a photocopy of some official-looking Russian document, a long series of backwards letters printed in big block type along the top. Smaller backwards letters spelled out what I guessed was his name, Роман Торчинович, printed next to a photo of a smarmy-looking man wearing far too much eyeliner.

"Pomah Topyhobny?" I asked, my tongue tripping over itself.

"It's 'Roman Torchinovich,' which you'd know if you bothered to actually read the file instead of just glancing at the top page."

I rolled my eyes and took her advice, flicking through Roman's disturbingly thick record while Weiss got ready to leave.

Roman Torchinovich, dubbed "Torchwick" thanks to his easily-mangled name, had been a periodic guest of several nations' penal justice systems in the past twenty-odd years. It looked like what I would expect out of any other career criminal; the only interesting thing was that he tended to spend considerably more time outside of prison than in it. On the few occasions he'd actually been caught, Torchwick had usually managed to escape well before trial. He had five warrants out for his arrest, four issued by different countries and one for the entire European Union. On the off chance anyone did manage to catch him, it'd be a toss-up to see who'd get the pleasure of prosecuting him first.

His rap sheet read like a criminal's A-to-Z, and was about as educational, at least for the sheer number of ways they could call this guy an utter scumbag. He'd been suspected, accused, charged, or convicted of money laundering, arson, theft, burglary, theft again, fraud, robbery, armed robbery, grand larceny, more theft, securities fraud, possession of stolen property, grand theft auto, grave robbing, resisting arrest, practicing dentistry without a license, and ...

"Cattle rustling?"

Weiss' head popped out of the closet. "Apparently he ran out of gas during a highway pursuit. Jumped a fence and rode a dairy cow to freedom."

"... you're joking."

"Of course I am. He tried using them to smuggle diamonds across the Canadian border."

I nodded and decided I _really_ didn't want to know how he'd tried. "Thanks. I'm not sure if I could have gotten this on my own."

"It wasn't that much of a hassle." Weiss paused, black pea coat in hand, jaw working as she mulled over what to say next. "Yang, promise me you won't do anything-"

"Stupid?"

"I was going to say 'foolhardy,'" She drawled, her voice dry as she pulled on her coat. "Same thing, I guess."

"Weiss, I promise not to go off half-cocked and burn down half the city."

"Good. I doubt my insurance would cover it."

I laughed, glad to see she was still relaxed enough to joke. "Get going. Have fun at your party."

She glared, but I could still see the humor in Weiss' eyes before the door closed behind her. I gave her a good ten-minute head start, then got ready to go myself. If anyone with a record this long was in town, somebody had to know about him – and I was willing to bet my triad 'contacts' would have an idea or two on how to find him.

* * *

It was still fairly early by the time I got to _JUST_, but a line had already formed in front of a massive mountain of a man, what neck he might have buried beneath a thick beefy jaw and a metric tonne of muscle. The LED sign dyed the waiting crowd a deep rust-red in the dim pre-twilight glow, impatience and anticipation turning to grumbling as I bypassed the line. The bouncer watched me move for the door, realized I was about to walk straight through him, then stepped aside with a guard dog's reluctance, knowing that the visitor was welcome and still resenting the trespass on his territory.

I couldn't resist giving a cocky little lift of my chin and a grin as I walked by, his impassive face somehow getting harder and duller. He knew who I was, and I was willing to bet he didn't like it one bit. Which, honestly, was a little odd. I didn't remember him from the guys I'd trounced on my first visit.

Meh. Maybe I broke his brother's nose or something. These ganged-up guys get so _sensitive _about their egos.

The club was packed to the brim, people crammed in thick enough to violate several fire codes. The floor shook, a steady rhythmic earthquake set off by the bouncing crowd. Squinting my eyes against the burning red-and-white lights, I shoved my way through the crowd, heading to the one place I knew I could always get what I wanted:

The bar.

I was only halfway through my first drink – frozen strawberry sunrise, with one of those cute little umbrellas – when I felt a small, long-fingered hand running along my shoulder.

"Someone's a little early this week," Miltia drawled in a monotone that, for her, counted as a warm hug and a smile. They're not usually what you'd call 'demonstrative.'

"We are working," Melanie said, her voice dropping to a purr as she shifted onto the bar stool beside me. "But I think we could take a ... short break."

"As tempting as that sounds, I'm here on business."

"Oh." She straightened, made some gesture I couldn't quite make out, and the bartender scampered off to the other end of the bar, following by an exasperated clump of people waiting for drinks.

"Now," she said, her voice dropping low enough that we probably wouldn't be overheard. "What can two enforcers for the Xiong group do for you?"

I snorted. To be fair, it was just like her to be particularly up front about the whole thing.

"My most recent employer is in the market for a thief, and I'm not as familiar with the local talent as I'd like," I said. "Don't suppose either of you would know anyone available?"

The twins shared a look, doing the whole silent-sisters-talking thing. I know they weren't doing it to make me jealous, but I remembered a time when Ruby and I could pull that off. Drove Dad crazy with it, actually. It was something I missed.

"How about a burglar from Birmingham?" Melanie asked, pulling me out of my self-recrimination. "Stole a nice gem from the head of the Yanwu a few months back."

"Decent sort," Miltia chimed in. "Very 'English,' really likes tea ..."

I shook my head. Of course. Why would I assume they'd just automatically point me at the guy I wanted? I mean, it would be convenient, but the chance of them randomly picking the exact same thief I wanted had to be slim-to-none.

"I need someone familiar with the Russians." It was a shot in the dark, but one of the files mentioned Torchwick had robbed one of the mobs based out of Moscow. Probably wasn't the kind of thing most people survived. If I was lucky, that should narrow down the list a bit. "Ideally someone on less-than-good terms with the Soylent-svetlana-bratwurst mob."

"You mean the SoIntsevskaya Bratva?"

"That one I can never pronounce? Sure."

The twins shared a look of utter disdain.

"You want Roman," Melanie said finally, with the distinct tone of someone who wanted dearly to spit on another's grave.

I blinked, holding onto my best poker face. After the last person I'd asked them for information on, it wouldn't be a huge stretch to assume that this guy might not leave his encounter with me in one piece. At least it didn't seem like they'd mind ...

"Who is this Roman, and why does it sound like saying his name causes you actual physical pain?"

"Roman Torchwick," Melanie said, talking through her teeth. "Is a dysfunctional, unstable, irritating little-"

"He's a jackass," Miltia cut her off. "Don't take your eyes off him."

"That ... shouldn't be a problem. You have an address?"

Melanie reached for a napkin and scribbled something down before sliding it over. "Our organization scoped him out a while back, in case there was a need for 'retribution.' His boys work out of an abandoned warehouse on the waterfront, but he keeps an apartment over on Twenty-third and Regal."

"In case you feel the need to visit him at home," Miltia said, her voice leaving little illusion about what she'd like to happen, should I get the urge to make a house call.

I grinned, and reach for the napkin. "Thanks."

I tugged, but Melanie's hand kept it pinned to the bar.

"After the matter of our payment," she shrugged. "Sorry, Yang. Everything has a price."

"Fair enough," I said. "How about we say I'll owe you one?"

"Make it 'your boss in the body armor owes us one,' and you have a deal." Melanie pulled her hand away. "After the attack on the Cardinals, that's actually worth something."

"How much did you hear?"

"Not much," Miltia chirped, pulling a bottle of vodka out from beneath the bar. The Cardinals are putting up a fuss, barking at anyone who they think might have had anything to do with it. They want whoever did it dead in a bad way, but they don't have anything left to go on. We only know you were involved because your information came from us."

"As for Roman, just watch yourself, Yang." Melanie took the shot glass Miltia offered her, clinking it against mine before raising it to her lips. "To your health, Yang. Remember, one of these days, Junior _will_ collect. See you Thursday."

I downed the last of my drink and walked away, slipping the address into my pocket and trying my hardest not to think about what I might one day have to do.

* * *

To anyone who hasn't had the pleasure, there are few things as mind-numbingly boring as a stakeout. You're usually uncomfortable, constantly trying to stay out of sight, and apart from stare at a door for hours on end, have absolutely nothing to do. Not my favorite activity. Then again, as stakeouts went, I'd gotten lucky.

Torchwick's hidey-hole was deep in the industrial district, twelve miles south of the river and eighteen blocks in from the waterfront. Unlike the northern half, it hadn't gone through the 'gentrification' efforts of the last decade. Most of the buildings still held light factories or warehouse retail stores, surrounded by streets with under-valued storefronts catering to the area's residents, most of whom lived in the flats above. Everything was a little duller this far South, the sun-washed paint chipping off doors and storefronts, rust coating the steel bars of fire escapes. There was a halfway decent coffee shop across the street from Torchwick's place, a pizza joint three doors down, and an only slightly filthy pub across the street. Everything I'd need for an extended stay.

I managed to get there a few hours before the coffee place closed, grabbed a latte, and settled in by the window, feigning interest in the newspaper stretched across the table. Silent table companions and refills came and went as I waited for the place to start shutting down. I was careful to keep the apartment window and the building's door angled at the corner of my eye, apart from the occasional and all-too-necessary sprint to the bathroom.

By the time they started to close up shop, I'd already tired of the smell of coffee beans and the leftover overpriced pastries. Abandoning my seat, I traded the warmth and comfort for the cold and wet outside, huddling beneath the awning of a newsstand, before spending an inordinate amount of time pretending to pick out a magazine and a candy bar at a bodega. Ignoring the suspicious glare from the manager, I headed back into the rain, careful to stay as far out of sight from the window as I could. My ball cap made its appearance, then vanished, my raincoat switching between being pulled tight around me and hanging on the rack at the pizzeria once the rain really started to go. I switched between layers when I could, doing what I could in the hope that so no one would notice the same blonde woman loitering around the block.

It wasn't perfect, and if he'd known I was hunting him, Roman probably wouldn't have any trouble spotting me. But I managed to stay out of sight, watching as he rolled back home a little after ten, the collar of his ratty black jacket pulled tight against his neck. He was slinking home, looking like any other miserable schmuck caught out in the rain, not a known fugitive with warrants out for him across Europe.

Then again, that was probably why he'd come to Vale. However he had managed to get across the ocean, I was willing to bet it hadn't been easy. Either he was desperate enough to make the trip, or he could afford the cash and favors to slip into the country illegally.

Fortunately, I didn't have to wait much longer. Roman strolled out of his door an hour later, a cane hanging off one wrist of his spotless white coat while he fumbled with an umbrella, black bowler pulled down over his freshly-coiffed orange hair.

I waited, putting a decent clump of people between us before I followed. As tall as I am, I'm just too noticeable, and I didn't want to risk tipping him off by getting too close. It was a gamble; all I could see of him between the heads of the crowd was that black bowler bobbing beneath the white expanse of his umbrella. At least the orange hair would still be pretty easy to spot if he dumped the hat.

I kept pace behind him, ducking between passers-by and trying to stay close to other groups. Hopefully, I could blend in with the crowd, keep him from picking me out and spotting the tail. We walked a little over a mile through the city, working our way north towards the riverbank. The surrounding buildings slowly grew less run-down, the paint less chipped, the metal less rusty. Then the crowd shifted, a party of five staggering out of some dive bar and onto the street, crowding and hassling each other and generally getting in my way. By the time I elbowed my way through, the bowler was out of sight.

I bolted for the corner, trying not to look too frantic as I searched for Torchwick.

It was no use. I'd lost him. Which gave me two choices: head to the second address the twins had given me and hope he showed, or break into the now-definitely empty apartment and paw through all his stuff.

What the hell. I was bored of waiting anyway.


	8. Thief, Part II

Writer's note: So, I'm trying to keep up with more constant updates. Also, from here on, I'll be throwing in more snippets of events with the other characters, although Yang's sections will still be in first-person.

**Thief, Part II**

_April 12th, 2014, 8:00 PM - Weiss_

"So, why are we here again?" Ruby asked, staring up at the doric columns that framed the entrance to the Roosevelt Hotel. One of the ritzier spots in Vale, the place was a favorite for the more formal society events, or weddings for those who could afford a ballroom measured in furlongs. The hotel staffers had pulled out all the stops, warm lights shining on a red carpet thoughtfully rolled out for the arriving guests, the march to the doors broken only by the flashing bulbs of society reporters grabbing shots for their morning editions.

Glancing down to avoid the flashes of the paparazzi, Weiss slid out of the towncar, periwinkle-blue dress swirling about her legs, heels clicking lightly on the pavement.

"Schnee Dust is a corporate sponsor for the Metropolitan opera, and I couldn't get out of attending their charity gala. You're here to keep me sane," she said, straightening and stepping aside for the hotel staffer to shut the door behind her.

The taller girl snorted, blowing a disobedient hair out of her face. "Especially since you could probably out-sing any soprano on stage tonight."

"It's been a _long_ time since I performed, Ruby. Plus, I'm not sadistic enough to actually take you to the opera. It's just a party to raise funds."

"So I won't have to listen to someone warble through _The Magic Flute_?"

"Unfortunately, they tend to prefer the Italian composers ... so maybe some Vivaldi. Puccini if we're really unlucky. You needed a break anyway – whenever you're not at the lab, you're buried in your textbooks."

"Are you kidding?" the younger woman turned to her, face aghast at the suggestion. "The Crescent's almost ready for field testing. Weiss, this thing could revolutionize modern weapon design! Targeting assistance with smart bullet support, enhanced recoil suppression to compensate-"

"Yes Ruby, it's a very fancy gun." The corporate executive patted her friend's arm and passed their invitations to the waiting doorman. "I was the one who signed off on the project, remember? It will still be there tomorrow when you go back to work."

The taller girl grumbled, feet shuffling, trying to find a more comfortable position in her pumps. "How do you wear these stupid things every day?"

"Practice and a high tolerance for suffering," Weiss said, ignoring the difference between Ruby's inch-high puppy heels and her own stilettos, and reached out to pat another unruly red-brown lock back into place. "Given the choice, I know you'd rather spend time with your fellow tech-heads, but I do appreciate you scrubbing the grease stains off for one night. I haven't seen you at home much."

Another noncommittal grunt, this one as Ruby passed her coat to yet another waiting doorman. Weiss did the same, then led her friend down the carpeted hall to the ballroom, snatching a champagne flute off a passing tray.

"She misses you," Weiss tried again, waiting for some sort of reaction from the younger girl.

"Yeah, well, she was the one who left." Suddenly, Ruby's eyes went wide, her frown replaced by a completely enthusiastic grin. "Oooh. Shrimp puffs!"

Rolling her eyes, both at the obvious dodge and the immediate run for the h'orderves, Weiss followed Ruby through the crowd.

* * *

_April 12th, 2014, 9:00 PM - Yang_

It probably won't come as a shock to anyone that my skill set doesn't exactly fall on the stealthy side of breaking and entering. Lock-picks have never really been my forte, and my prior experience consists mostly of the incredibly complicated technique called 'kick-in-door with foot.' In my defense, I'd never really needed anything more subtle.

Which, is exactly why I 'borrowed' a pick gun from the supply depot at Fort Castle before I left. Turns out the military police use them when they don't feel like causing a ton of damage to someone's door. Luckily, I had a friend in the supply depot who owed me a few favors, although he probably wouldn't have gone along with it had he known what I was taking. Not being a locksmith or a cop meant I was technically breaking a couple laws just by carrying one, but I figured the possession charge would probably be a lot less significant than the whole 'actually breaking and entering' thing.

Turns out, it's actually not that hard to pick a lock. Stick a torsion wrench into the keyhole, insert the gun's little metal stick, and then pull the trigger. After a couple tugs, the pins in Torchwick's lock clicked right into place. With a twist, the lock turned and the door opened.

It's like a little 'Open Sesame' gun.

Feeling rightfully pleased at my newfound skill (or lack thereof) at the fine art of home invasion, I opened the door a crack and slipped into Torchwick's place, closing the door as quietly as I could. No one was home to hear me, but I still didn't want to alert any nosy neighbors. Then again, this wasn't the kind of place you lived in if you wanted to have someone reputable next door. Even if I got spotted, I had a feeling this wasn't the kind of neighborhood where you called the cops.

I was as quiet as I could be, tip-toeing my way into the apartment. Honestly, I couldn't even hear my own footsteps going in. Which was why I was so surprised when I felt the barrel of a gun being pressed between my shoulder blades.

I froze in place, waiting to see how this was going to go. Not that I had much choice. With the gun where it was, there was no way I could get myself out of the line of fire long enough to make a play for the gun. At least they probably didn't want me dead ... yet. If they had, I'd already have a bullet hole.

"Who the hell are you?" a distinctly feminine voice asked from behind me.

I'll admit, I floundered a bit looking for a lie. Right then, about the only thing I could think of was the truth. Normally that might not be a bad thing, but saying 'I'm someone's daughter on a madcap mission of revenge' probably was not in my best interests. Time to go with the old favorite.

"Uh, I live here," I said, roughing up my accent as much as I could without seeming like a parody. Most people assume the girlfriends of gangsters aren't the most educated people - and usually it's best to give them what they want to hear. "The hell you think you are, breakin' into my man's place?"

"Cute," the woman growled without hesitation, the barrel digging a little deeper against my skin. "But I don't like being lied to."

Crap. Okay, two options: admit failure or double down.

Definitely doubling down. "Excuse me? You sayin' Roman couldn't score someone as good-lookin' as me?"

The unseen woman snorted. "I made you on your second trip by the bodega. Frankly, you're not very good at at this sort of thing." The gun shifted slightly as the woman moved to the side, the barrel slipping from my spine down to my kidneys. "Although, you _would_ be difficult to believe as a couple. Too tall for him."

The barrel left the space between my shoulders. I didn't move. Without being able to see where the gun was, my chances of disarming her and not getting shot in the process were still pretty damn low.

"Hands up, turn around. No sudden moves."

I did as I was told, more out of curiosity than anything else, hands up at the sides of my head. Waiting to see how close she was, how easy it might be for me to make a grab for the gun – or pull my own – I turned.

I found myself staring at a woman dressed in various shades of black, hooded scarf pulled up and over her face, the rest covering her mouth and nose. I could just make out the high, delicate lines of her cheekbones, the angled bump of her nose beneath the fabric, but it was her eyes that struck me. Bright orange-gold and almond-shaped, ringed with smoky shadows that made them glow beneath her hood.

... alright, fine. All romanticism aside, they were the _second_ thing I noticed, after the snub nose of .45 caliber handgun pointed at my chest. But they were very pretty eyes.

"So ..." I asked, tired of waiting for the woman to say something. "You come here often?"

One dark eyebrow cocked beneath the hood. "Literal gun to your head, and that's the best you can come up with?"

"Hey, I'm serious. From the gun and the whole modern-ninja-assassin outfit thing, I'm guessing you're not here to wish Torchwick a 'Happy Birthday.'"

She blinked in silent agreement. At least, I thought it was agreement. When she wasn't any more forthcoming, I stumbled on, figuring that even if I couldn't talk my way out of this, I could at least stall for time.

"Look, you're probably not a friend of Roman, I'm not a friend of Roman. How about we both get whatever it is we're here for, and then just go on our merry way? Everybody wins. Or," I said, smile slipping off my face. "I take that gun and beat you unconscious with it. Your choice."

There was a long moment of silence as I stood there, looking at some mystery woman down the barrel of her gun and waiting for her to do ... something. I mean, common courtesy, right? You get someone at gunpoint and then you _do_ something. You don't stand there and wait for them to die of old age.

She twitched, and I tensed, ready to force myself out of her line of fire. Underhand blow to her wrist ought to do it, get the gun to the side long enough for me to knock her off balance. If she was just a bit closer, I could ...

Turned out mystery woman wasn't giving me the chance. Either I telegraphed more than I thought, or she was smart enough to guess my next move. She shifted back, keeping just far enough away that I'd get shot long before I could reach her. Stepping to the side, she circled around me, quiet footsteps getting softer as she moved farther away.

"Stay here. Don't turn around. You follow me, I _will_ shoot you."

Disobedient to the last, I waited a few seconds before I turned, catching a glimpse of orange-gold eyes and black clothes as the woman slipped out the now-open window, metal of the fire escape tinging quietly as she vanished into the night. I shot a glance out the window, just in case I could still see her, but she was long gone.

I closed and locked the window – no point in making it any more obvious that anyone had broken in. Whatever that woman had been here for, either she'd already taken it, or I'd surprised her before she got the chance. With nothing else to go on, that just left why I'd come here in the first place:

Going through all his stuff.

I pulled out the little digital camera Weiss had sent me for my twenty-third birthday. My phone technically had a better camera, but no way in hell was I using a wifi-enabled device for my surveillance photos. Step one was going through all his drawers, his mail, his computer (if he had one), snapping pictures of anything that looked like it might give me some clue as to what he was doing here.

Most of what I got useless beyond giving me a clearer picture of one Roman Torchinovich. What few clothes he had fit the style I'd seen him in earlier: white coats, black slacks, and a disturbing amount of eyeliner. Apparently he bought in bulk. That or he'd robbed a Costco. He definitely had a 'singular' look – or he was just trying to make 'droog' into a fashion statement.

No laptop or computer. If he had one, he didn't keep it here. There wasn't anything in the refrigerator, but I did find a loaded Glock duct-taped to the bottom. Carefull not to jar it, I pulled the gun lose and ejected the magazine. On a hunch, I checked the chamber – I was right. He'd already loaded a round. I took that one. If I was lucky, the first time he pulled the trigger, he'd get nothing but a click. I thought about taking all his ammo, but then there'd be no way he could shrug it off as a careless mistake. If he checked, he'd know someone had been here. Either way, that was still one less bullet he could shoot at me.

There wasn't really anything else in the apartment, barring a crudely-drawn map labelling which areas of the city had the dumbest cops. He didn't think highly of the ones out by the docks, which was fair: I didn't think too highly of them either. With nothing else to do, I locked the door behind me on my way out and headed home, with nothing to show for a night's work apart from one stray bullet and a few surveillance photos.

* * *

It was after midnight by the time I finally made it back to Weiss' place. The light in the living room was still on, the television chirping quietly with the neutral peppy sounds of a news anchor. Weiss was sitting on the couch, the party dress she'd worn earlier already replaced with a nightdress, the blanket and pillow I'd been using moved carefully to the side.

"You're back."

"Yup." I nodded, peeling off the various extra layers of clothes I had tried to hide in. Unsuccessfully too, at least according to my interloper. "How'd the party go?"

"Tolerably. Their chairman keeps trying to get me involved – having a Schnee among the trustees would be a fairly nice feather in his cap. So I reminded him that the only opera I'll see willingly is _Die Wa__lk__üre. _How was your night?"

"Frustrating and fruitless. Speaking of, is Ruby ..."

"Asleep. She's meeting the advisor for her dissertation tomorrow morning." Arching one imperious eyebrow, Weiss stared up at me. "So, do I go looking for more articles on half-destroyed warehouses?"

I winced. The last thing I wanted right now was press. "Someone actually printed that?"

"Buried on page eight. They assumed a gang war, or a 'disagreement' in the group's leadership. Although ... a few of the arrested members are claiming a crazy woman in black-ops gear blasted her way in. The cops aren't taking them seriously."

"Yeah, 'cause who'd believe a silly story like that?"

Weiss sniffed and scooted over, giving me room to flop down onto the cushions. "It's almost as bad as that 'woman in black' nonsense."

That brought me to a halt.

"I'm sorry, what?"

Weiss rolled her eyes. "You really have only been reading the classifieds, huh?"

"Yes Princess, I am behind on my understanding of current events. I'm a bad citizen, and in a congressional election year no less. I'm awful. I promise I'll get right on it _after _you tell me who this woman is."

With one long-suffering sigh, Weiss grabbed the remote, hammering the rewind button for the DVR before pointing at the screen. A TV-pretty woman with a short bob of hair sat behind a desk, a rough police sketch superimposed on her left. The black-and-white sketch featured an agile-looking woman in a tight dark jumpsuit, a hooded mask covering most of her face.

"_Thanks Cyril. In local news today, Vale's resident second-story woman has struck again. The so-called master thief is suspected in a break-in yesterday at the corporate headquarters of Winchester Communications. Witnesses reported seeing a hooded woman dressed in black fleeing the office of CEO Lionel Winchester, her description matching that of a woman spotted at the scene of several other high-profile burglaries over the past few months. The police have refused to comment if anything was taken or if this is being officially attributed to the "Woman in Black," but all signs indicate that whoever this woman is, her crime spree is far from done. This is Lisa Lavender, repor-_"

Weiss cut off the report with a click, leaving the poor woman frozen on the screen, her face scrunched up mid-word. The sketch had been replaced with a gritty shot from a security camera, showing the back of the woman's head, long dark hair draped across one shoulder.

"Now, why so interested?"

I hesitated, trying to figure out which answer would get me in the least amount of trouble. "I ... might have just run into her."

Weiss stared at me in something on the border between exasperation and disbelief. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Come on. It's not like I did it on purpose. She was in the same apartment I was breaking into."

"And you see nothing wrong with that sentence?"

"Weiss, it was the apartment of a _bad guy_."

She turned to me, angry retort already primed and ready to fire, then froze. I'd slumped down on the couch, low enough that even Weiss, at five-foot-three, would be looking down at me. Down, into wide violet eyes gazing beatifically up at her.

"That would work a lot better if you were actually shorter than me," she drawled, rolling her eyes and settling back into the couch.

"I work with what I've got." I wriggled my way back up, lounging against the armrest so I could watch her.

"We have another problem," she said grudgingly, and I got the distinct impression that all I'd done was delay the inevitable conversation about my delinquency. "Remember the crack I made about Accounting not doing their job and archiving some of the old prototypes?"

"Vaguely. Why?"

"Apparently, they've decided to start doing their jobs. Figures, the one time I don't get on their case about it, they do it anyway."

"So you need to put it back."

"Oh it's much too late for that," she scoffed. "I had to order a complete investigation."

"And?"

"'And' what? I know how to get around my own security system. As far as they know, the project was simply misplaced. After my little tirade, _everyone_ knows I'm furious, so whoever thinks it might have happened on their watch is scrambling to make it look like someone else's fault."

"You don't have security cameras?" I asked, skeptical. With the kind of stuff the SDC worked with, they had to have one of the best security systems in the city.

"It's the strangest thing," Weiss said, looking over at me with an expression of complete innocence. "We had a power outage a week ago. The back-up generator failed to activate and our cameras in the warehouse went down. I spoke with our in-house technicians, and they're confident it won't happen again. Something about rats getting into the wiring."

I snorted. "So, we're good for now?"

"Until someone snaps a picture of you running around playing Rambo, and then you'll be on the hook for stealing from Schnee Dust." Weiss drew her knees up to her chest, shifting on the cushions to face me. "Or worse, you get shot again and end up rushed to the hospital."

"Weiss, I can handle myself."

"In a fair fight, sure. But the last time you had a 'lead,' you decided it would be a great idea to go up against an entire gang. Those aren't good odds, Yang."

"Well, this time it's just one guy. He came to town two years ago. The triads already know him, and the ones who actually have to _deal_ with the guy hate his guts."

"Yang, he has a rap sheet a mile long-"

"Weiss," I said, cutting her off, letting myself look serious for once. "He came to town _two years ago_. Right before my dad died. He's involved."

She stared at me, hopefully seeing how much I needed this. Finally she sighed, breath hissing through clenched teeth. "Just be careful."

"I'm only planning to watch him. Discreetly."

"Since when do you do anything _discrete_?"

I shrugged. "Since you asked me to."


	9. Thief, Part III

**Thief, Part III**

_April 13__th__, 2014 - Yang_

Okay, so maybe 'discrete' wasn't _exactly_ the right word. Discrete-ish, maybe? Discrete-esque?

Whatever the word, that's what I was doing, dressed up in Weiss' body armor and staring down at the foreclosed factory that served as Roman Torchinovich's hideout. After all, it wasn't like I just walked in and started shooting up the place. I was doing recon. Scouting the area. Gathering information.

That counts as 'discrete,' right?

I perked up as another car pulled alongside the desiccated building, only to offload yet another Russian-looking gangster, hauling yet another suitcase out of the back before trudging towards the building.

Sighing, I snapped a photo before he vanished, then rolled over onto my back, staring blankly up at the smog-blackened night sky. I grunted, annoyed, and tried to find a position where the steel roof didn't dig into my spine.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I _really_ hate stakeouts. They're boring and nothing happens for the longest time, and you have nothing to do, and-

And _there's_ Torchwick.

Scrambling for the camera, I just barely snapped a shot of the white-coated gang boss, right as he climbed out of a car that was about as innocuous as a bubblegum pop star. The all-white sedan gleamed in the dirty alley, trying in vain to put its surroundings to shame with its spotless sheen. Instead, the whole scene carried the air of a well-dressed socialite who found herself in a particularly unsavory part of town.

Looking particularly uncomfortable among the back-alley grime, the car beeped softly as its lights dimmed and died. Checking the lock, the driver nodded, then pocketed a key fob and followed his boss into the building. A scrawny man who I'd pegged as the lookout poked his head out the door, peering up and down the back alleys for any sign of movement, before yanking the door shut behind them. The sound of a lock being thrown echoed in the evening quiet, then all was still.

Well ... that was that. I'd found Torchwick, and I doubted anyone else would be arriving tonight. From the looks of it, he was meeting with whichever locals still answered his calls. If Thrush's confession was right, it sounded like Roman was moonlighting as a middleman for some of the other criminal interests around town.

Unless I wanted to hang around until they left, there really wasn't much else to do tonight. Ten-to-one, Torchwick would just head back to his apartment, or one of his other holdings. I might as well just go home. It could reassure Weiss that I wasn't trying to get myself killed. Maybe even see if Ruby would say a full sentence to me this time. Or ...

Or I could see what they were talking about.

... well, one quick peek couldn't hurt.

Yanking the ballistic mask down off my forehead, I settled it in front of my face, took a deep breath, and ran for the side of the roof.

This deep in the industrial district, the buildings were packed fairly close together, with just enough room for a loading zone or an alley before the next warehouse started. An unattended fire escape had led to the top of a garment factory across from Torchwick's hideout, the roof ringed with a low wall designed to help funnel rain down into storm drains.

The next building over was barely five feet from the edge, and several feet lower. It made my job so much easier.

I rolled as I hit the next roof, hitting the three-point landing with the enough grace to make the Russian judge give me the full ten. Okay, maybe not the _Russian_ judge, but it was still a damn good landing.

I crossed the next couple roofs with the same ease, launching myself forward across the alleys and rolling to reduce momentum. Within minutes, I was atop Roman's warehouse, flattening myself against the side of a decrepit air conditioning unit as a guard passed beneath me. Glancing over the side of the roof, I added him to my growing list of Roman's flunkies. The man's uniform and badge said 'Port Security,' but the Russian submachine-gun shoved down the back of his pants disagreed.

_Note to self_, I thought, crawling along the roof to stay out of sight. _Don't expect the cops to get called if something goes wrong. _Worse, if Torchwick had at least some of the rent-a-cops in his pocket, any VPD patrolmen that _did _get called might be on his payroll too.

It took me less than a minute to find a door that led deeper into the building, and even less time to crack the lock with my pick gun. One flight of stairs later, and I found myself peeking down at the warehouse floor through the frosted glass of an unused office.

It wasn't a great angle. Most of what I could see was shelves and boxes, but I could just make out a woman standing at the back of the building, flanked by two bruisers who looked like they spent their nights bending steel girders for fun.

"Роман!Как поживаешь?" she called out, one hand coming up to run through her platinum blonde hair.

"Fine," a second voice said.

Roman stepped into view. He had his hat pulled down to one side, and every few steps he tapped his cane on the cement floor. I was surprised – his accent was pure American. I'd expected him to sound more Russian.

"And use a civilized tongue, if you can manage."

"Одного языка никогда недостаточно, little _Roma_." She however, had the accent in spades, and was making no attempt to hide it. She sounded like a villain in an eighties cartoon. "Still trying to play big man after all these years?"

"Look around." Raising the arm with the cane, Roman waved at the warehouse. "I think my operations in Vale are plenty big enough."

"You make yourself a useful little dog to local gang-bangers. _Да_, _Romanichka_, we know."

Torchwick's face soured. "At least playing the middleman is better than being the bratva's bitch."

I couldn't see their faces, but from the tension in the two musclemen, I could tell he'd struck a nerve. If they had leashes, they would have been straining at them.

"Do me a favor, Roman," the woman growled, reminding me even more of a dog about to bite. "Remind me why we haven't killed you yet."

"Because I have something you want." Torchwick stepped forward to stare the woman down, eye-to eye, ignoring the two men with their hands on their guns. "For whatever reason, your boss wants something from Vale. That's why you're putting pressure on the Cardinals. Why you're sneaking behind their backs to make a deal with the Triads. You want a foothold, and the only way you're going to get it, the only way you're going to keep it, is if you stay on my good side."

"Now, shall we get to business, or was this just a social call?"

I dropped back down beneath the window as the Russians followed Torchwick out. The last thing I needed was them seeing a masked face watching from the upper floor.

When their footsteps vanished, I peeked back up over the ledge. Torchwick's men were moving to the doors, their hands already on large semiautomatics. I watched as they split up, moving to focus on the perimeter of the building.

That was something. If Roman and the Russians were busy with their deal, and his men were on the lookout for Russian gangsters ... well, they might not be looking too closely at the warehouse itself. They couldn't keep their eyes on all the entrances _and _the inside of his hideout.

_Sorry, Weiss,_ I thought, and slipped out of the room.

It was easy to wait until one of the guards looked away to drop down from the upper floor. It was even easier to follow the pattern of traffic through the warehouse, slipping behind heavy wooden pallets and shelves filled with cases and crates. Most were wrapped in plastic, with large stamps and customs stickers. Most were from outside the country – Asia, Africa, a few from Eastern Europe.

Probably half of them were legal.

From what I saw, Torchwick kept his grubby little fingers busy. There wasn't time to crack open some of his crates and see what he had for myself – but he was a part of what happened to my father. He was there that night, _and_ he had some sideline with the Russian mob.

_Let's start with his office, _I grinned as I slipped around a corner, unseen by the guard staring at the darkened street outside. _Then we'll think about wrecking everything he has._

The hallway took me to set of double doors and another hall, this one curving around before ending in a single door set into the wall. A guard stood outside, his finger already on the trigger of a large, nasty-looking handgun. I sighed. It was always such a shame to see poor trigger discipline.

Remaining guard, no easy exit, the room up on the second floor ... _Yup. Definitely his private office. That or a place for him to hide something really juicy. _Either way, that's where I needed to go.

A little whistling brought the guard down the hall to the corner. One love tap to the head and he went down. I almost felt bad for the guy – had to be hard being stupid enough to fall for one of the older tricks in the book.

Once I had zip-ties around his hands and feet and one of his socks belted inside his mouth, I hauled him up onto my shoulder and headed down the hall. A few seconds with my pickgun later, and I slipped in through the backroom door.

Moving fast, I yanked the unconscious guard in after me and closed the door. With any luck, the deal with the Russians would keep his replacement from coming anytime soon. And if they did ... well, at least the hallway made for a great spot to use my gauntlets.

The room was dark. I didn't want to use the lights, it'd be too easy for someone outside to see the lit window. Moving carefully through the room, I tried not to hit anything and waited for my eyes to adjust.

It took a few minutes, but eventually I was able to make out the shapes in the room. A small curtained window in the far wall let in a little light from the street. I pulled the curtain aside and blinked as the little extra light filled the dark room. The window was little more than a glass-covered peep hole, but it still helped a little.

The room _was_ an office. A messy one at that. That was interesting. I'd figured his home was more for show than anything else. It wasn't something you could really use to draw a picture of the man. His clothes, his car, his sense of 'style' all said he was someone who cared about his appearance, who made sure the people around him saw him the way he wanted them to. His office – his private, _personal _office – lacked the same attention to detail.

The place was more bolt-hole than meeting place. A comfortable-looking cot sat in the corner against the wall, and from the mussed sheets it was clear he'd slept here recently. There was only the one chair behind the desk. No sofa, no chairs, nowhere for visitors to sit. That was good. It meant this wasn't a public space, somewhere he shared with 'clients'. A small door in the wall led to what was probably a closet, next to a coat-rack with a coat identical to the one I'd seen him wearing.

A few glass tumblers sat on the desk. One of them even had a little something at the bottom – whiskey from the smell of it. A few import/export papers lay nearby, scattered randomly over the wood. Looked like he'd thrown them down and ignored them. From the little dust starting to gather on the pages, he'd been ignoring them for a couple days at least.

But it wasn't his legal operations that interested me. I was about to go through his desk, try and find something that could give some clue about his operations, when I heard rustling.

I froze, then dropped down behind the desk. There wasn't anywhere to hide, there wasn't time to get to the closet. If someone came in now ...

No one came through the door. Perfectly still, I listened, waiting with baited breath to hear the sound again.

It did – a low soft rustling, followed by a loud click of metal. The rustling returned, but it wasn't from the door.

I looked over at the guard I'd pulled in with me. No, he was still out cold, unmoving on the thin carpet. _Someone's already in here. _

Carefully, I got up from behind the desk. The sound was coming from the closet. I took my time getting there, trying to stay as silent as possible and cursing myself the whole way. I should have checked the door the second I came in. If someone had hidden in there, they could have been waiting for me. Could have come out with a gun – taken a shot at me when I wasn't ready. The armor Weiss had given me might stop a bullet, but the suit didn't come with a helmet, just my ballistic mask. Even if it did, something that would stop a bullet and not give me a concussion at the same time would be way too big to sneak around in.

Moving over to the wall, I inched down it to the door. There was no telling how big the room on the other side was. If I was lucky – if it was a closet – it'd be harder for them to shoot through the wall. If it was a whole room ... well, here's hoping the armor held.

With one quick movement, I grabbed the door knob and twisted. With a pull that strained the hinges, I yanked the door open.

It was a closet. Mostly. A black figure was crouched in the middle of the room, clothes and hangers move out of the way while she emptied the contents of a safe hidden behind a false panel of the wall.

The woman in black whipped around to look at me, her face mostly hidden beneath a scarf and hood. The clothes would have given her away, but it was the eyes that cinched it. Bright gold and gleaming, even in the dimly-lit room.

It was _her._ The woman from Torchwick's apartment. The Vale city Thief. The 'Woman in Black.'

"What the hell are you doing here?"

* * *

"They will do." The Russian woman laid the vials down and closed the matte-black case. The lid clicked shut. Satisfied with the lock, she nodded at the larger of her two guards.

Keeping an eye on Torchwick, the man reached back and pulled out a tablet. Keeping one hand near the gun in his belt, he started typing one-handed on the small screen. After a minute, Roman's phone beeped. Keeping one eye on the Russians, Torchwick glanced down.

_Transfer Complete_.

It was done. Five hundred thousand dollars in an untraceable wire transfer to a Cayman bank.

Nodding, the bruiser put away the tablet and yanked the case off the table.

"Careful." Torchwick chided, wincing as the case screeched along the wood. "There's no telling what that stuff can do to you."

If either bruiser heard his warning, they didn't show it. The two faded back behind their mistress, one now with the death grip on the black case.

"We will need more," the Russian said, tugging at her gloves.

"Good luck with that." Torchwick rolled his eyes when the guards bristled. "Do I look like a biochemist to you? That's every vial there is. You want more, have fun digging up the guy who made it."

The Russian sniffed.

"Удачи, Рома." With that, she turned on her heel and headed for the exit, her bodyguards in tow.

Roman watched her leave. Only after the door closed did the smirk slip from his face, the venom in his voice making the words perfectly clear. "Сука."

* * *

My gauntlets were up before the woman could reach for her gun.

"Don't." I said, when she twitched, her hand moving towards the .45 in her boot holster. "I don't wanna use these on you, but I'm not keen on getting shot either."

Slowly, she got up. For someone who had to have spent several minutes crouching on the floor, the woman in black moved like silk, all smooth motion and flowing clothes. One hand was open at her side. The other gripped a thin notebook, still open to the page she'd been reading. The quick glance I shot the open page didn't tell me much. It's hard to read upside down while holding someone at gauntlet-point. Most of it looked like bookkeeping entries anyway, mostly numbers alongside a few names. But I did catch one word before she snapped the book shut.

_Cardinals_.

"That's his ledger, isn't it?"

She didn't answer. She didn't have to.

"I need it," I said softly. If I could get my hands on that, if I could find out who had used him to hire the Cardinals...

It was the best lead I'd had in a long time.

Gold eyes stared back at me, unblinking. "So do I."

We stood there for a good minute, just watching each other, waiting for the other to blink, to twitch, to make some move.

"We could share?" I said, keeping my voice low.

Her eyes narrowed. I think she was trying to tell if I was joking.

She shook her head, never fully taking her eyes from mine. "Not this."

Well, shit.

I heard the click of the door too late to do anything. I glanced towards the door just in time to see one of Roman's guards flick on the lights, a confused expression on his face turning immediately to surprise when he saw the two of us standing in the now-lit room.

My mouth was half open, my second gauntlet raised to threaten him, when someone's shoulder rammed into the chest piece of my armor, knocking me back. Pain blossomed in my side as I fell into the desk. Blinking to clear my vision, I looked back just in time to see her charge past the startled guard, knocking him hard into the doorframe, the ledger still clutched tight in her hand.

_Son of a-_

I raced after her, giving the guard a kick in the side as I passed. Cursing, I watched as she ran around the corner, black clothes whipping behind her as she moved.

Skidding on the floor, I rounded the corner and fired. The concussive blast ripped down the hallway, knocking the two double doors open and sending the woman in black sprawling onto the floor. Grinning, I raced towards her, only to watch as she rolled to her feet and kept moving.

My smile turned to a grimace. Pushing through the pain radiating from my ribs, I bolted down the hall.

She was fast. Faster than me. Unfortunately for her, she didn't have blast-gauntlets to give her a boost.

Firing behind me, I rocketed down the hallway. I landed just in time to watch one of Torchwick's men step out of the hall. The woman in black didn't even pause – mid-run she pivoted, one of her arms wrapping around the man's neck while she knocked his feet out from under him. The man whirled in the air and fell to the ground hard, nearly tripping me as I raced after her.

The whole warehouse was a mess. Everything was corners and hallways and doors that opened up into other rooms. I couldn't catch up to her, and with my blast-jumps, she couldn't quite get away. The next thug who opened a door got an armored elbow from me for his trouble. The one after that popped out in front of her, his expression startled and confused as a black-clad woman dropped to the floor and slid past him. I don't think she ever figured out what happened – especially after he looked up into the gauntleted fist of a masked blonde.

I could hear her breath getting heavy as we rounded one last corner. Grabbing a door, she yanked it open and darted inside. I swore when I saw the sign on the door. Emergency stairs.

I grabbed for it and missed, the door clanging shut. I tried the handle – it was jammed. Stepping back, I fired into the door, knocking it from its hinges. The steel door crumbled, then collapsed back, falling down through the hole in the center of the stairs before getting caught on the railing below.

Trying to ignore the pounding in my ears, I listened, trying to hear which way she'd gone. Footsteps came from both sides. I leaned over the railing and glanced down, only to dodge back when I saw some of Torchwick's goons aiming guns from the floors below. _Up it is._

I was never going to catch her. Not like this, not with gun-toting crooks coming up after us and her with a head-start. I couldn't shoot straight up, even my blast jumps wouldn't get me high enough to ...

Whirling around, I stepped back and crouched, aiming for the next level up. Cocking my gauntlets, I aimed them behind me and braced for impact.

This was gonna hurt.

The gauntlets left two nice, big holes in the wall as they threw me up and forward, just high enough to catch onto the railing of the floor above. I grabbed it and held, my arm straining to pull me and the body armor up onto the stairs. I could hear curses from beneath me – seemed like the blast had knocked some of the debris onto the goons below.

Figuring I could live with that, I fired again, and again, blasting from one level to another, bouncing from floor to floor like some insane rocket-powered slinky. Or a bouncy-ball. I probably looked like one too, blonde hair streaming out behind me as I criss-crossed my way up the staircase. By the fifth railing, my arm ached, the constant strain of supporting my weight starting to get to it. Seeing the roof door, I balanced myself on the edge of the level and fired, hearing the railing crack and shatter behind me as I flew up to the top level.

I made it just in time, slamming into the woman just as she swung the door open. My momentum was too much for the both of us – we went sprawling onto the roof, arms and legs tangling together as both of us tried to knock the other down.

Finally, she kicked me off and rolled away, still keeping a death grip on the ledger. Her hand went to her gun, clearing it from its holster just as a weak shockwave from my gauntlets sent it flying. Glaring at me, she clutched the ledger tighter and settled into a fighting stance.

She wasn't gonna make this easy.

"Nowhere to run," I growled, still half-out of breath from the stairs.

She gave me a skeptical look and broke for the edge of the roof. I beat her there, ducking beneath her punch as I brought my elbow into her side.

She spun away, her foot lashing out in a kick to the ribs injured in my fall against the desk. It hurt, but not nearly as much as it would have without the armor. I made a note to thank Weiss for that, right after she stopped yelling at me for getting into trouble an hour after she told me not to.

The woman in black didn't stop, staying on the move as she darted this way and that, taking every chance she could to land a blow against my wounded side. _She's good, _I thought, and let her hit, focusing on getting in a few body shots of my own. I managed a couple before she slipped beneath my arm and came back up, long legs wrapping around my right arm before she twisted, yanking back to hyperextend my elbow.

I cursed as she tugged. For a second, I thought she might yank my arm out of its socket. Clenching my teeth, I pulled back my left arm as far as I could, and fired. The shockwave tossed us both to the side, the woman in black crashing into the wall and barely rolling aside before I slammed into her.

The ledger flew out of her hands and landed halfway across the roof, its pages splayed out over the concrete. Rolling to her feet, she raced towards it. My second blast caught her there, knocking her back into the low wall that ringed the roof, and sending the notebook skittering across the ground. I reached for her, trying to catch her before she could get away, but she refused to stay down. She spun away, and all I got was a fistful of hood.

The hood came away as she moved, caught in her jacket. I pulled, trying to drag her closer. I never got close - she threw her arms back and slipped out, leaving a raven-haired woman blinking up at me, scowling at her face being revealed, golden eyes glinting as the tufted ears atop her head flicked.

Wait ... ears?

The Faunus woman glared at me before leaping for the ledger. She almost got it too – but I had Schnee tech on my side. As it was, the shockwave slammed us together, both of us with on hand on the notebook. We rolled, and she ended up on top, bringing her elbow down into my face mask.

It didn't break, but I tasted blood.

Snarling, I threw her to the side, rolling on top to try and pin her down, just in time to hear the gunshot.

_Oh shit._

The force of the shot sent me spinning, knocking me to the ground. I managed to keep ahold of the ledger as the Faunus woman's fingers slipped off. That was something at least.

Seven guards stood near the doorway, all of them armed with semi-autos aimed at the both of us. Right in the middle, framed with the light of the doorway around him, stood Torchwick.

"As much as I enjoy a good catfight," he drawled, cane hanging from his wrist as she stepped out onto the roof. "I think you have something that belongs to me."

The Faunus woman snarled and leapt for the ledger. She never had a chance.

The bullet caught her in the shoulder, sending her spinning over the edge of the roof. I reached out, tried to grab her, but it was too far to reach. My fingers closed on empty air as she fell, landing on the ground below with the sickening thump.

"Ledger. Now." Torchwick sighed, flicking what looked like concrete dust off his coat. "Or you join the kitty-cat in the street."

I looked back at Torchwick and took stock of myself. My arm ached from the jumps, my side felt like I'd been hit by a car, and my shoulder might as well have taken a second car head-on. I was hurting, and on the other side were seven men with submachine guns, all aimed at me.

Yeah. Those weren't good odds. Even if the armor could hold up against all those bullets, my ballistic mask couldn't. Maybe I'd get lucky. _Maybe _I'd get off one good shot that blew them off their feet.

I looked down at the Faunus woman lying still in the street below. I'd been wrong before. The jumping hadn't been all that bad. This, however ... _this _was going to _hurt_.

"Ten seconds, blondie." He paused for effect, fingering the handle of her cane. "Nine. Eight ..."

Ledger clutched in my hand, I stepped towards the edge, balancing like a tightrope walker on the wall that ringed the roof.

"Fuck off, Roman." Grinning beneath my mask, I flipped Torchwick the bird, and jumped.

* * *

**Author's Note: So, I'm glad to have this back. Anyway, I have something to announce. With how many stories I have going on, I figured that it would help if I had an extra set of hands working on this one at least. Someone who could help me get it out to people faster. So, I've now partnered with Liara_90 off of AO3 (you should check out her work, it's really fun to read) to work on this AU. Just because of what I had already written, _Thief _is still mostly me, but starting with _Valkyrie_, the next section, a good half of it will be written by Liara.**

**As usual, _please_ leave a review or comment if you can. (A) It makes my day and (B) it sometimes gives me idea about what you guys would like to see and any mistakes I might need to fix. If you have any questions, comments, critiques, or even just want to say 'hi,' PLEASE put it in a review (I respond to almost any question) or in an ask on tumblr (you can find me as 'Redsuitwriter').**

**Seriously - I always grin when I check my notifications and find a review or a follow for a story.**


	10. Valkyrie, Part I

Writer's Note: In case you were confused, I wrote a new prologue with Weiss, and moved the old prologue into the chapter after Thief. Sorry for any confusion. If you can, please take a moment to shoot out a review - they're very helpful in letting me see what readers liked and what they didn't, and I really appreciate critiques.

**Valkyrie, Part I**

_July 17th, 2014 - Yang_

I waited until the shoddily-dressed men had passed beneath me, holding my breath until I was sure they were out of earshot. The night air was warm and thick, moist and disgustingly humid. Summer had finally hit Vale, bringing the obnoxious insects and the oppressive heat with it. Sweat clung to the back of my neck, the beads tickling my skin as they ran down my spine. The whole city was hot, humid, and – worst of all – sticky. It was my own personal hell. I cursed the guys below me. Maybe _they_ didn't care about their health – actually pretty likely if you considered their chosen profession – but at least they could have picked a more comfortable place to hold a drug deal. Somewhere with air conditioning.

Maybe I can get Weiss to install a walk-in freezer. Yeah, that should work.

Confident that I wasn't about to fall from my perch, I wiped the sweat from my eyes, blowing a stray lock of hair out of my face. The mask helped control the unruly mess – even if one strand always managed to slip loose – but after eight years of cutting it short, there was no way I was getting rid of any part of my mane. Plus, it looked _awesome_ when I used roundhouse kicks.

... I kick people a lot. Weiss says I have a problem.

The junkies – Or were they the dealers this time? I hadn't been paying attention – came back, a duffle bag swinging heavily from the tallest one's shoulder. One of them muttered something about their payment. The brute with the bag told him to stuff his questions somewhere implausible and extremely painful.

Charming.

They waited, making me wait with them, everyone quickly growing impatient in the stifling warehouse. One dealer scratched at his ear. Compulsively. Every few seconds. He looked like a dog with fleas. From the way they smelled, it wasn't much of a stretch. Apparently personal hygiene was even lower on their list of priorities than their health was. His wife-beater was soaked through, deep rings of sweat dying the white cloth.

Okay, so a certain heiress would chew me out if she caught me using the term 'wife-beater.' In my defense, I was fairly confident that these guys would fall squarely into that stereotype. I could be wrong, but the stringy, flea-ridden man currently scratching at a growing sore behind his ear didn't seem like he'd make for the most caring husband. Occupational hazard, I guess. I doubt most people would click on anyone with 'Drug Mule' listed on their dating profile.

The big guy lit a cigarette, the puffs of smoke wafting up towards me. Jerk. My patience was quickly running out, my knee bouncing as I fought the urge to drop this scum like a bag of bricks. I'd been tracking these guys for days, trying to figure out when their next buy was going down. Finally, I'd managed to beat it out of one of their mules, requiring only the suggestion that a crowbar wanted to spend some alone time with his knees. I'd been camped out here for hours, stretching, and waiting, and oh-dear-lord was I bored.

Finally, tires pulled to a stop outside the warehouse. An SUV, by the sound of it. Panel van, maybe. Something big, bulky, and just a little creepy. Big Guy stopped smoking, grinding his cigarette into the concrete.

Moron. The cops could totally get something from that. DNA probably, maybe even fingerprints.

Boots clunked on the concrete outside before one of the side doors swung open. About time. Maybe, just maybe, this would be worth the time I had wasted, waiting for everyone to show. Hours of sweating and quiet muscle flexing, trying to keep everything from falling asleep on me.

I hate waiting.

Reaching into my jacket, I grabbed one of the little recorders stuffed in the inside pocket. Technically, what I was about to do was very illegal; Vale had very specific two-party recording consent laws. Technically, you have to tell someone if you record a conversation. That's why those little voices on customer service lines say that your call may be recorded for quality assurance. The only time you're allowed to record someone secretly is if you have a warrant, all official and proper with some judge's signature. Well, as official as it gets with the judges in this town.

Not like the legality had ever stopped me. The good part was that since I didn't work for the cops, my recordings could still be used as evidence without some lawyer complaining about the dirtbag's civil rights. I might be breaking the law, but since the cops didn't ask me to do it, it was totally okay ... kinda. I'd be in trouble if I ever got caught, but I'd have far more serious problems if it came to that.

Part of me just wanted to drop down, smack some heads together, and get home in time for a nice long soak. The other part of me knew I'd never hear the end of it. Technically, I needed them to say _something_ incriminating. Weiss is touchy about those things. The small stuff, like corroborating evidence, and 'proof.' I pressed the button with my gloved thumb, seeing the little red light blink once as the recording started.

The buyers stopped a good ten feet from their suppliers, the hands of both sides resting conspicuously near the backs of pants or under their jackets. One guy jammed his hand directly down the front of his pants, grabbing the handle of a 9mm.

Moron. Seriously, what idiot _ever _thought that was a good idea? One misfire, or one intentional-fire by a particularly gorgeous blonde, and he'd be a eunuch. Maybe he didn't care. I mean, it would hurt, but if he wasn't using it ... Well, I shouldn't judge.

"You have the shipment?"

"Let's see the money."

There we go. Good enough for me.

I dropped, letting gravity put power behind my kick, and drove the heel of my boot directly down into the closest seller. The drop kick landed squarely against his skull, bouncing him into the concrete. He stayed down. My kicks had a tendency to do that.

I rose to my full height, looking positively awesome in my black-and-gold body armor. I cocked my gauntlets, the loud click echoing in the now-silent warehouse.

"On the ground, boys. It's too hot for a workout."

There's usually a moment after a grand entrance when everyone tries to figure out what just happened, glancing around to figure out if anyone else knew what was coming. During those few seconds, there's always the hope that the bad guys will actually take the deal and lie down on the ground. Accept what's coming to them, you know? It'd save them a lot of pain, and you a lot of time and effort. Everyone wins.

Spoilers. They never take the deal.

The flea-ridden drug mule charged at me, getting a gauntleted fist in his stomach for the trouble. Grabbing him by the shirt, I threw him into the group of buyers, knocking a few over before they could draw their guns. He was a bit of a lightweight, but even a hundred and twenty pounds of stringy junkie hurts when hurled at you like a bowling ball.

The big one stepped forward, cracking his knuckles as menacingly as he could. If he'd tried it on anyone else, he probably could have called it intimidating. Me? I just got excited. He flipped his hand over, offering me the first swing.

So stupid. Never give the girl the opening punch.

I didn't bother fighting him. Granted, it'd be fun – taking apart a dude who thought they could handle some girl always was – but I had stuff to do. Firing my gauntlet, I sent a shockwave right into his stomach, sending him flying backwards into a stack of pallets. It had already been six-on-one – well, three-on-one now – and I didn't feel like playing fair.

The buyers had gotten up, tossing the unconscious seller to the side. Two of them whipped out handguns as the third grabbed both bags, trying to make it out of there with the product and the cash.

Now, I may not be the fastest woman in the world – hell, Ruby can outrun me most days – but a shockwave-boosted bull rush tends to make shooting at me fairly difficult.

I fired backwards, the gunfire passing harmlessly behind me as the force threw me forward. Whipping one arm around, my gauntlet fired at the fleeing buyer, the blast ripping one of the duffle bags to shreds. Small, clear bags of colored pills scattered everywhere, the force of the blast sending them across the room. The shot knocked the runner off his feet, leaving him to slide face-first along the rough, concrete floor. Ouch. That was going to leave some serious road-burn.

The drugs taken care of, I kept moving, switching my attention back to the last two buyers.

A gun came up, the moron holding it out at arm's length, the barrel turned over onto its side. Apparently, that was supposed to be impressive. All it really meant is that he'd seen too many gangster movies. Holding a gun on its side absolutely ruined your aim, although I'd bet these guys weren't exactly crack shots to begin with.

Grinning, I moved my body out of line, making sure any shots would pass harmlessly to the side. Firing one of my gauntlets, I caught him on the side of his arm, sending his unsteadied hand flicking back to smack into his mouth.

Heh. Stop hitting yourself.

The last one was running out the door, panic making his last shot swing wide before he vanished. I let him go. If he was dumb enough to head back to his boss, he'd probably end up far worse than if he'd stayed here with me. Plus, it was too hot for a chase.

I pulled my zipties from another pocket, making sure everyone was bound good and tight. After that one time with the Nords, I was a lot more careful. Who knew you could actually pop these things? The big guy was just starting to come around when I fished out one of the buyers' phones, my gloved fingers already dialing 911. A few heavily-distorted words and a very irritated emergency responder later, and I knew the cops would be picking up my friends in no time. Don't know why, but something about telling the cops that you did their job tended to annoy them a bit.

The big one spat obscenities at me as I walked away, my boots padding softly on the ground. I detoured over to the buyer who'd tried to escape, grabbing the case of cash before moving to the door. If I left it there, it would just end up in the evidence lockup, eventually claimed by the department or stolen by some crooked cop. I knew someone who could do a lot more good with it. Making sure to give Big Guy the old one-finger salute, I slipped out the door, the heavy metal clanging shut behind me.

Once I was clear of the building, I ran for second alley to the left, ripping the stained and dirty tarp off the lumpy shape beside the dumpster. My baby stood there, strong and reliable, her black-and-gold paintjob still gleaming. Moving quickly, I emptied the suitcase into a canvas bag I kept just for this purpose, checking the stacks of bills for tracers before shoving the case into the bottom of a nearby dumpster. The bills were all random numbers, thankfully nothing consecutive. It meant I could actually make a few donations with the cash. Consecutively numbered bills were too easy to track, and my friend wouldn't appreciate me bringing the law down on the people we were trying to help.

Slipping the matte black helmet down over my head, I let Bumblebee kick before we tore off into the dimly-lit streets, clearing the area before the cops could arrive. She roared as we tore down the streets, humming beneath me. I loved my bike, especially during the summer. The wind felt _awesome_.

Once I was clear, I pulled into a shielded alley. Hopping off my baby, I double-checked everything, making sure I hadn't forgotten equipment, hadn't made any mistakes. Weiss would kill me if I accidentally left something behind that could be traced back to me. Or her. Hell, I'd kill me. The _last_ thing I wanted was to put Weiss or Ruby in any danger.

Nope. No missing equipment, no torn fragments of leather or kevlar, nothing to help track the blonde in the mask.

Good. That was one more group of dealers down, and at least part of a local gang. No serious injuries, no fatalities, as promised. The police would find them all trussed up, with a nice confession all ready for them and a warehouse scattered with little pills. I even had some cash to 'donate.'

I'd call that a pretty good night.


End file.
